Always Read The Fine Print
by MugetsuFTW
Summary: Contracts have power. A well worded contract can be more powerful than even a punch in the face by Ubogin if you're not careful. The Zoldyck family and later the Hunter x Hunter world finds out as Naruto demonstrates his devilish ability.
1. The X Contractor

Forgot to do this cause I posted it in a hurry but basically I don't own either Naruto or Hunter x Hunter so don't sue me. I wanted to make a hunter x hunter crossover story that starts similar to a story I saw on the crossover section but takes a different route and that story inspired me to do this. I checked the authors profile and saw that he didn't really mind if someone took a similar idea so I started writing this and just decided to post it.

* * *

Naruto twirled the quill that had appeared out of nowhere in his hand. Next to him was a bottle of ink that had also appeared out of thin air and on the floor between him and the youngest child of the Zoldyck family, Alluka, was a parchment. He could feel gazes boring into his back from everyone else that was in the room. Well even if they tried anything funny they couldn't go through with it unless they wanted the old guy to die.

Why would he die you ask?

Because of the contract they had made of course.

* * *

Naruto was seven at the time. He was in the 'custody' of a mafia family. It was 'custody' because they had pretty much forced him to work for them but they did reward him whenever he completed a job so it wasn't all that bad. It sure as hell beat living in that hellish orphanage; where there was barely enough food for him and whenever things got boring the caretakers would amuse themselves by using them as punching bags.

The blonde was heading to his room after having completed another job. This time it was to make a contract with some dude that worked for another of the mafia families and whom had tried to spy on them or something. The contract was pretty simple in all honesty:

'Obey our demands or you'll die. In return you will be released after we have what we want.'

Even though it seemed otherwise the contract was incredibly vague, which bothered Naruto to an extent for some reason, but it was powerful nonetheless. Every single word that was written in it was true. The reason it was vague was the second verse of it. Whilst the first was pretty simple and binding the second was open to an extent which meant that it could be interpreted in a number of ways and it would still fulfil the contract.

It was an abusive use of his ability.

The mafia had discovered that whenever Naruto made an agreement, contract or any form of deal where an exchange would be made he could make the rules, requirements or conditions on said contract actually happen, no matter what they were.

'_Well whatever, that guy was probably going to die anyways.' _Naruto thought without a care. After having lived with the mafia family for a year he had made loads of contracts and most of the time it was always something along those lines so by now he wasn't bothered as much.

Getting to his room he opened the door and went to take a shower. His room had his own personal shower, along with all the other necessities of a room but he also had his own personal fridge. Ten minutes later Naruto was feeling refreshed although he was still a bit tired. Making a contract was a tiring affair so his max was five contracts a day. Today was a really slow day because he had only made one although he usually made four to five every other day. They had discovered that if Naruto tried to make more than five contracts a day it simply wouldn't work and he would be knocked out for a week due to sheer exhaustion.

Sitting on his bed whilst sipping a carton of chocolate milk and in his pyjamas Naruto almost had a heart attack when he heard a voice from the direction of his window.

"That seems like an interesting ability."

Naruto choked on his milk and spurted it out whilst falling out of his bed and snapping his head to the window. Standing by it was an old man of medium height with grey white hair who was garbed in purple clothes.

Naruto stared at him wordless. And the infamous Zoldyck assassin Zeno only stared back.

"You aren't going to panic. How strange, most people would." The ancient assassin continued without a care in the world. The boy in front of him only continued to stare for a few moments before he got up from the floor and went to his mini fridge. He opened the door and got another two milk cartons from it. Returning to his previous position on the bed he opened one and threw the other at the old man and said, "You've got a weird moustache old dude."

Zeno caught the milk carton in his hand and hummed as he watched the boy sip his chocolate milk whilst observing him. The kid was pretty weird. Not as weird as some of the people he had been hired to kill previously but weird nonetheless. He had definitely not expected that kind of reaction from him. Deciding to try and get another amusing reaction out of him he shared the fact that he was intending to kill him now. It was a lie but the kid didn't know that.

"There's a hit on you kid and I took it. I'm going to kill you now." Zeno commented to the young'un in front of him and watched his target curiously.

"No you're not. What do you actually want?" Naruto replied back in between sips of his drink. Zeno looked at him for a moment before he sat up on the window sill and opened his own carton. He began to take sips from it while preparing his response.

"Is that so? I wouldn't be too sure, I never fail a contract kid." He shot back at the kid. He was definitely one of the strangest kids he had met and considering the fact that he had a hand in training Illumi that spoke volumes. Who in the world would talk down their would be assassin whilst sipping chocolate milk?

"Cause I can feel you don't want to. Plus I didn't even notice you until you spoke which means that you could've been here since the moment I walked in. If you wanted to kill me you would've done it by now right?" The small blonde calmly explained his logic to the elder that quite frankly held his live in his hands at the moment. All that Naruto had said did make sense but it excluded a couple of facts. His ability to sense bad intentions in people towards him wasn't omnipotent and definitely didn't keep him away from danger all the time. Besides just because he could not feel any intent to harm him from the old dude at this point in time did not mean that he didn't want to kill him; it simply meant that either this guy was so skilled that he was hiding his emotions entirely or that he simply did not have harmful intentions because he hadn't made his mind up whether he was going to kill him or not.

However what made Naruto kind of confident in the fact that he was not going to die today was the fact that the old man in front of him started laughing. For a second Naruto relaxed before his eyes widened and he immediately tried to shush the old timer.

"Shush! Everyone is gonna hear you dumbass!" Naruto whisper shouted at him and made a shushing noise. Zeno calmed down and looked at him with amusement. "It doesn't matter really. Say kid I've got a job for you, you up for it?" The old man casually said with whilst his eyes twinkled in mirth.

Naruto stopped with a puzzled expression. He frowned before replying, "Well I don't really mind as long as it isn't too dangerous… but anyways what do you mean it doesn't matter if they hear you?" Zeno chuckled and threw the milk carton in a bin on the other side of the room. "It means that they wouldn't be able to do a thing even if they found me." Further confused by the strange old man's words Naruto tried to figure out what he meant.

'_Is he implying that he's strong enough that even the dozens of armed guards aren't a threat at all? This guy must be one hell of a monster then…' _Naruto's thoughts trailed off as he heard footsteps thudding down the hall towards his room. He stared at the old man in front of him as a voice called out from outside his door.

"What're you laughing at kid? Hurry up and go to bed already, you got a full day tomorrow!" The mafia thug reminded him loudly before turning around and storming down the corridor. He was sure that there was something wrong with the mansion tonight. Something felt odd about it even though he couldn't quite put his finger on it…

After making sure that the man had gone Zeno spoke again, "You didn't call out for help. Are you that interested in the job I have?"

Naruto replied to him, "I don't mind going on it but… You have to take me away from this place for good." The blonde made his intentions clear. He was gonna use Zeno to break out of the mafia family's control and supervision? That was fine with Zeno since he had to take the boy with him anyways for what he had in mind.

This entire thing had started when he had gotten a hit on Naruto. At the time he didn't know his target was this weird kid, the only information he had was that his target was a powerful Manipulator that was causing trouble for other mafia families by making their men turn on them. Thus one of the families had decided to get the pros involved and Zeno had answered to the call of the mission. He had no idea that the 'powerful Manipulator' was actually a seven year old who had blinding Nen potential.

The kid was most likely actually a Specialist. And he was also a Nen genius, someone that without instruction was able to use Nen powers that came to him instinctually. Most of the time these Nen geniuses were specialists whose powers awakened and worked without their control or consent but in some cases the user could figure out how it worked and thus figure out how to consciously use his/her ability.

This wasn't, however, the entire reason as to why the kid had amazing potential as he had concluded. It was because, at the moment that he had made the contract with the man downstairs Zeno had felt the amount of Nen that had been released. It was an amazing amount for someone his age and most importantly for someone that had not been trained in Nen at all. What this meant was that Naruto himself had an incredible amount of Nen already and that his ability was so powerful that it used a big amount of aura to activate. This told Zeno that it was most likely a troublesome ability and that it was capable of powerful feats.

It was exactly what he needed.

The moment Zeno had observed the activation of his ability downstairs and felt the amount of power it put off he had made his mind.

He was going to take this kid back with him and make use of his ability to find a solution to Alluka's situation. But first he needed to confirm some things.

"Hmmm I'll agree if you explain how that ability works." Naruto nodded his head before making a request.

"First can you tell me what exactly it is that I'm doing? I mean I know how it works but _what _makes it work and exactly _how _am I doing it? I've played around with it a little and found some cool stuff but it's really weird if I'm honest. Most people in the house act as if it's natural but I can tell that even they don't really understand it. The only one who seems to is this other guy and the boss too but I have no idea what's going on to be honest. I've never seen anything like it before." Naruto explained as he crossed his legs on top of his bed and threw his own chocolate milk in the bin.

Zeno sighed and began his explanation.

An hour or so later the old assassin had explained that Naruto was using his Nen to do the feat he accomplished downstairs and that Nen was life force, energy that everyone had but only those who went through special training could make use of it. That had made Naruto immediately question why he was able to do what he could even though he was pretty sure he hadn't been trained in this at all. Zeno expanded upon his explanation that some people in the world could simply use Nen without any instruction. It was a very rare occurrence but it did happen sometimes. Naruto had taken that and come to his own conclusion.

'_Hmmm that explains the whole contract thingy… I guess it could also explain my… sixth sense when it comes to people wanting to hurt me.'_

The whole sixth sense thing had developed whilst Naruto was in the orphanage. His Nen had developed a warning system in order to protect him from the 'bad' caretakers, cruel people who would come to the orphanage and take out their frustrations on the orphans that no one gave a damn about, and thus his sixth sense had been born. Later on it had aided him yet again when a slave trader had attempted to trick and kidnap him. The man had told Naruto that if he followed him he would show Naruto to a couple that wanted to adopt him. Sensing the man's intentions Naruto had tried to get back at him and once again his Nen manifested to his needs. He had then made an agreement with the man, if the family that he showed Naruto to did not adopt him the man would pay. Of course this was said much less eloquently at the time…

* * *

_Flashback._

"_Huh? A family? Hmmm you look pretty shady old dude, I don't think I trust you." A six year old Naruto purposely said in a loud voice. This was so he didn't try anything funny; they were still in the middle of the street after all. The hunch back man had oily black hair and a nasal voice that really got on Naruto's nerves but that was exactly why it would be hilarious to trick him. The man looked around nervously but tried to assure his young prey._

"_W-Why I don't know what you mean. Wouldn't you like to meet them? They are so excited to see you…" He trailed off as Naruto adopted a thinking pose. He was pretending to think about the offer but in reality he was just thinking of how he was gonna dupe the old dude and possibly steal his wallet. And because of that nasty voice he had Naruto decided to kick in the jewels too, it would certainly help in getting the man's wallet away from him._

_The naïve blonde had no idea that the man was planning on selling him onto a life of misery, suffering and harsh labour. If he had he would've ran away from him as far as possible. Even with his uncanny ability to feel whenever people had bad intentions towards him it was not powerful enough to distinguish between the levels of 'badness'. If it was possible at the time he would've felt that the man reeked of one of the worst kinds of malice but alas he could not._

_Looking up at the man he then spoke the words that would, unbeknownst to him, change his life forever._

"…_Okay dude I'll go with you but if you're just gonna try and scam me you'll pay, got it?" To the sad excuse of a human being that simple phrase did not mean much. So without a thought he simply nodded his head and replied._

"_Okay, okay kid but trust me you'll thank me later." In his mind he could imagine how much money he would get by condemning Naruto to a fate that was perhaps worse than death. Ironically, at the same time, he had unknowingly sealed his own fate._

_The conditions had been met and thus a contract was formed. _

_However because it was a verbal contract it should not have had much power. Couple that in with the fact that it was vague it made it a weak contract in the scale of things._

_But it still proved to be fatal._

_Later on after the man had started leading Naruto to the family that was interested in him Naruto had discovered his true to intentions. They had stopped at an alley way and the man turned around with the most evil of grins, it had sent alarm bells off in his head and Naruto immediately turned to run away. The bad feeling that Naruto was getting skyrocketed and at the moment he was incredibly scared._

_However as the slave trader made to grab Naruto and spoke his true intentions to hand him over to the highest bidder that he could find instead of a nice family or even to simply scam Naruto of the small pocket change he had, Naruto's Nen activated. _

_The man had broken the contract._

_The Nen that attacked him could've easily been blocked by anyone that was even moderately trained in it but the slave trader was not. And because of that an assault by Nen was equal to being stabbed in the chest._

_He keeled over and Naruto in his panic ran away from him as fast as possible. He did not try and comprehend what had happened or how the man had died. The only thing that mattered was getting away from the dead body that was on the ground in front of him. Should he have been caught he had no doubt that the consequences would've made the beatings at the orphanage seem like a nice stroll through the park._

_It was because of his panic that Naruto did not notice that someone had seen what had happened. This other man had in fact seen everything that had transpired; from the moment that Naruto had made the deal with the slave trader and thus his activation of Nen when the contract was formed to when the slave trader died due to the Nen that assaulted him. Considering the fact that Naruto did not seem to know what had happened at all he came to a conclusion._

_The kid was one of those incredibly rare Nen geniuses._

_The man was a hunter who was currently employed by the mafia family that would later kidnap Naruto. He returned the same day to his employer, an ambitious leader of a relatively new mafia family who had his eyes set on the seat of the Ten Don's. He knew it was going to be a hard and long climb but his desire for riches and respect fuelled him. The family leader knew of Nen, but only that it was a freakish power that he could make use of in his climb to the top. Because of this he decided to hire a hunter, people who did incredibly perilous tasks, ranging from capturing notorious criminals, to exploring uncharted lands and hunting down dangerous creatures._

_His logic was that the reason these hunters could do all of these amazing feats was because they could use Nen. It was spot on. So when the hunter had returned to him and told him of what he found along with why it was such a big deal the family leader immediately commanded him to find and capture Naruto. His logic in this decision was also correct. Nen users were rare to come by according to the hunter and someone who was a natural genius was even rarer. In his greed and ambition the leader of the young mafia family desired to capture and use that power for his rise to the top._

_He could not imagine what he had set into motion, for both the boy and for his own daughter._

_Flashback end._

* * *

Zeno listened to the story that the blonde shared with him with a keen ear. From it he could already tell a few things that were necessary for Naruto to do in order to activate his ability. The boy only confirmed his suspicions,

"Basically whenever I make some kind of deal with someone whatever it is that was agreed has to happen, otherwise the person will suffer the consequences I guess… something like that!" The blonde finished with a bright grin that showed that he was completely ignoring his vague and bad explanation. The professional didn't really mind since he had basically come to the same conclusion.

Naruto's ability made a binding contract between himself and another person. The terms of the contract were decided upon by Naruto and those terms were not meant to be broken. If they were Naruto's Nen would seek out the person who had broken it and attack him/her. Zeno guessed that the more complicated the terms, the more powerful the Nen assault would be on whoever broke them.

That was a dangerous ability. It was also incredibly unorthodox. Which was precisely why Zeno was going to make use of it.

If he could make the right contract with Alluka there was a chance to perhaps not entirely destroy the 'other' Alluka, the one who made requests and granted wishes in return, but instead to rein her in so that the child would not be as dangerous as she was. In all honesty Zeno pitied her. She was full of potential but so difficult and dangerous to deal with that the family had no choice but to isolate her from everyone, for the family's safety. From what they had concluded there was the possibility that if one wish went wrong, or if they failed to fulfil her requests that the whole family could be wiped out.

That was not acceptable in Zeno's or Silva's eyes so for the good of the entire family they had decided to lock her away. Killua had protested but the needle that Illumi had stuck in him made him afraid to disobey Illumi or the older family members.

The needle was meant as a safety precaution. For Killua not to go against clearly stronger opponents than him. This had the side effect of making Killua afraid to disobey Illumi or his father and grandfather because it would be, in a way, going against them. All of the mentioned people were clearly stronger than him and thus it restricted Killua's actions.

However this boy could be the key. Of course Zeno needed to test exactly the lengths of his ability, the drawbacks and restrictions or conditions to it and ultimately whether it was safe and powerful enough to be used on Alluka but it was a chance nonetheless. The old assassin had been trained to always put the family first and right now taking Naruto and potentially fixing Alluka's problem was definitely putting the family first. So he banished any other doubts that he had. Right now this was the best option. An opportunity like this did not present itself easily or more than once.

Naruto on the other hand thought carefully at the opportunity presented at him. In all honesty he wanted to take the chance but going in blind and without any safety measures was incredibly risky. The first time he had gone along with someone's wishes it had almost gotten him killed. It was through sheer dumb luck that Naruto had survived that situation with the slave trader. Not wanting to make that mistake again Naruto decided to make the old dude form a contract with him so that his own life would not be put in peril.

It was then that he realised his mistake. He had already explained how his ability worked to the old man so if he wasn't going senile, which by the way he managed to sneak into the mansion without anyone finding out, and also by the way that he wasn't really all that worried about getting caught in the first place suggested otherwise it meant that he wouldn't be tricked into making any deals with Naruto!

He flopped down on the bed with a rain cloud of depression forming over his head as he mentally wailed at his foolishness. Zeno seeing this only chuckled and thought to himself that this should be a fine first lesson for the boy.

Telling your opponent or anyone that you were planning on getting the drop on how your ability worked was incredibly stupid and could be paramount to suicide. From the story that the boy had told him Zeno had concluded that even though he was curious to the offer and was willing to risk it he wouldn't do it carelessly and would most likely want to make a contract with him as a precaution. Something along the lines of 'don't let any harm fall upon me whilst I'm in your care and I'll take the job' If Zeno failed to comply with the term then any number of things could happen. It could range from the boy's ability being blocked from being used in the way he wanted to, to Zeno himself being assaulted with Nen because of his failure to follow the terms. He wasn't too worried about the second one as he had guessed that with a powerful ability like that there had to be some restrictions to it. Zeno's old and sly mind had already thought up of a few but the one that he thought would be most likely would be that the Nen assault from breaking the contract would only be either as powerful as the contract was or as powerful as Naruto, the one who had established the contract, was.

He was sure that he could therefore overcome the attack but the first scenario was the most troublesome. If that did happen then any chance of fixing Alluka's problems would be gone and Zeno couldn't allow that to happen.

At the same time however he did not like the idea of simply kidnapping Naruto and forcing him to do their bidding. Whilst there was a chance that it could work if Illumi got his needles involved there was also a chance that Illumi's control over Nen would not be effective enough or he simply wouldn't be careful enough and would therefore harm Naruto. Usually whenever Illumi used his needles on someone because of his powerful Nen the people affected would lose themselves, brain functions included. Was it possible then to command the blonde to make a contract whilst under Illumi's control? The answer was about 50-50 but it was an unnecessary risk in Zeno's mind.

The thought of threatening Naruto into it did not cross his mind and later Zeno would look back on this meeting and ponder why.

Thankfully whilst Zeno was thinking of using Illumi's power he was not seriously considering it and more importantly he did not want to go through with it at all. He was simply running scenarios in his mind as he was wont to do whenever a tricky situation presented itself. It was because of this that Naruto's sixth sense was not triggered and thus his trust in the old man was not broken.

It was a key event in their meeting that both had seemingly overlooked.

The old assassin finally decided to get the show on the road and thus stepped forward,

"Kid if you want to come with me that's fine. I don't even mind signing a contract so you have peace of mind but let's leave already." Zeno broke the silence in his casual tone of voice. Naruto looked up from the bed and stared at him with a puzzled expression. Thoughts of whether Zeno had read his mind briefly raced through his brain. After all he was still new to this whole Nen thing and from the way Zeno had explained it sounded incredibly awesome so it was possible right? Humming in thought when Zeno didn't either confirm or deny his thoughts Naruto shrugged before he went to work.

He got off the bed and sat down on the floor. Letting his Nen take control as he did whenever he wanted to activate this ability Naruto was covered in powerful aura that began condensing and then manifesting itself into particular items. First a black quill materialised onto his right hand as then a bottle of ink materialised onto his left. Next a role of parchment appeared on the space in front of him and thus all the requirements were set. Naruto in fact did not need to do this. Just as he had done before he could simply make a verbal contract. Even if he feared that would not be enough he could just ask for paper and a pen and write down a contract with it.

The reason however was because Naruto, as he had mentioned earlier, had been playing around with his ability. What he had accidentally discovered was that if he wanted to make a contract as strong as possible this was the way to do it. At the time Naruto had simply had the thought of 'I want to the most powerful contract' He had done this at night in his room not too long after he had passed out from having tried to make more than three contracts a day. The reason he had tried to experiment was because he wanted to see the limits of his ability and what he could really do with it. In response his Nen manifested in the most appropriate form and thus he had been able to Conjure the quill, ink bottle, and role of parchment. He had not told anyone about this discovery because they would undoubtedly make him do more work and make him work harder. The problem was that he didn't want to do more work firstly and secondly the act of actually conjuring these things and then making a contract with them was immensely tiring.

In this situation it was necessary. Naruto basically wanted the best insurance policy he could afford at the moment and this was definitely it. It was worth being exhausted afterwards if in the long run it would keep him alive.

Zeno on the other hand could not believe his eyes. He had seen many things in his life as an assassin however this had to be in the top ten at least. He had earlier guessed that Naruto had incredible Nen potential and the feat he had just performed completely confirmed it.

This kid was a monster.

From his explanation of Nen to Naruto and Naruto's reactions he could tell that the kid really had no idea what Nen was. This meant that the kid was purely doing this on instinct, his Nen simply abiding to his command and manifesting itself in the most powerful way possible at the time. It was truly astonishing.

'_What a fearsome kid…'_ was the conclusion that he reached.

After twirling the quill in his hands a couple of times Naruto grinned,

"Let's get to business old man." The blonde declared. Sighing at the devilish grin the youngster in front of him was giving him Zeno only replied,

"What are the terms?" The old assassin stared at him as Naruto made a humming sound and then began writing,

"You are not allowed to harm me and neither are you allowed to let harm fall upon me whether through an indirect action, decision or lack of action at all. Whilst under your care or the care of any others you pass me onto any harm that happens to me will also happen to you. In return I will fulfil the job you proposed to me to the absolute best of my power no matter how long or what lengths I have to take in order to do it."

Zeno hummed in surprise. That was a pretty airtight contract; the downside that he could immediately see was that the last two lines could put Naruto into quite a bit of a bind. He guessed however that it was compensation for the line that if any harm at all should fall to the kid Zeno would receive equal harm. The old assassin did not think that a contract could be worded like that and it was surprising in all honesty. This meant that the kid was pretty much not to be touched whilst he was working on completing Zeno's request. In a way it made him nigh invincible against Zeno and to an extent against anyone that cared for the old assassin's fate should they lay a hand on Naruto.

"Now all ya need to do is sign here, I've already signed it myself." Naruto instructed as he turned the parchment over to Zeno and the quill floated over to the old man. Grabbing it he walked forwards and read the contract again. He then looked at the name that was signed.

Naruto Uzumaki. It was kind of a strange name but he didn't pay much mind. To the left of where the name had been signed it said _**Maker:**_

Beneath it was a space where Zeno could sign his name. Next to it and again in bold writing it said _**Signer:**_

He went ahead and signed his name down with the quill and then handed over the contract to Naruto. Naruto checked it over and hummed in satisfaction with his work and Zeno noticed from the corner of his eyes that the quill and bottle of ink disappeared back into aura before being absorbed into the seven year old. He then began to feel a massive build-up of Nen coming from the youngster in front of him but he didn't even flinch as practically a torrent of Nen burst from him in a white flood of energy.

From Naruto's lips words then echoed,

"**Deal with the Devil: The Contractor, activate." **And Zeno grinned.

It was the start of a beautiful relationship.

* * *

Well there you go I fixed the chapter not being finished. If you're reading this and are thinking what the hell is he talking about then don't worry about it I just messed up at the very end :'D. Anyways thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review ;)


	2. Contracts x And x Family

**Standard disclaimer: I don't own shit so don't sue me. Well here is the second chapter. To be honest I'm not really happy with the pacing of this chapter and the first. It's too slow for me but at the same time I want to write in a detailed fashion… lemme know what you guys think by dropping a review: fast pacing or slow pacing?**

**I was really happy with the reaction to my first chapter; it got a lot of favourites, followers and reviews. Well to me it was a lot at least anyways.**

**So yeahhhhhh. Have fun y'all:  
**

* * *

After Naruto had activated his ability he felt a wave of exhaustion hit him. That was probably the most tiring thing he had ever done in his short life. His eyes drooped for a second but his head snapped up when he remembered that there were a few things he had to take with him before he left. He then dragged his drained and tired form towards the other end of the room to get them.

At the same time Zeno was checking his surroundings using En. From what Naruto had told him it suggested that at least two people were aware of Nen in the household, perhaps more. If that was the case then there was no way they wouldn't have felt that big release of aura. At the moment Zeno's En covered the entirety of the house with ease. Although it was a relatively rich household, with long hallways and large main quarters it was still easy to monitor with his En because of is range.

Zeno could see that there were one or two guards walking back and forth near the front entrance, the main quarters and out in the garden. None of those people had a significant amount of Nen in their bodies however there was one with a moderate amount of Nen.

And he was heading right towards Naruto's room.

He turned back to the blonde boy and saw that he had gathered a couple of things in a little rucksack that he had pulled out from underneath his bed. Among the items he had grabbed Zeno could see that there were at least a dozen chocolate milk cartons, which made him sigh in exasperation, and a necklace that had been stashed in his sock drawers. Zeno gave it a once over and was surprised at the quality of the stone that hung from its end. The boy could probably get quite a bit from that if he sold it.

Well it wasn't any of his business.

He walked towards the window and began, "We're leaving. There's someone coming, no doubt due to your little light show, and I make it a habit to never kill anyone but my targets." Zeno popped it open and turned around to see Naruto give him a puzzled look,

"Wait so I really was your target? Huh… this must be one hell of a job then!" He finished with a wry grin and came to stand next to his had-been assassin. Zeno only sighed at the cheek on this kid. Somehow he had known that the old assassin did not mean any harm to him from the moment he had seen him. The Zoldyck patriarch grabbed the kid from the scruff of his shirt before he commented,

"Still wearing your pyjamas; you don't want to change?" The old assassin questioned as he observed the kid's pyjamas. It was comprised of a blue long sleeved shirt with clouds floating along lazily and matching trousers. Naruto had also put a sleeping cap on top of his head that looked like the jaws of some Magical Beast were closing around his noggin.

Hey he liked to sleep comfortably alright.

The blonde let out a yawn before replying, "Nah you can give me some clothes when we get to where we're going," At this point Naruto's sleepy eyes gained a sharp glint, "after all neglect can be pretty harmful ya know…?" and he gave the deadpanning assassin a cheeky grin coupled with a victory sign.

He truly was a cheeky kid. And his ability could even be more annoying than Zeno had predicted. If Naruto's statement was true it meant that 'harm' could mean anything that was harmful not only to his body but his mind too. He pretty much was nigh invincible.

Or so he thought. Unbeknownst to him even if Zeno did suffer the exact amount of harm Naruto did he could more than likely take it. The old assassin made a note to keep that to himself so he wouldn't give Milluki any ideas. That boy was growing a cruel streak that could be seen from a mile away.

He then jumped out of the window just as the door was opened by the hunter under the family boss's command. The hunter meant to give chase but Zeno only glanced back and any thoughts of fighting the old man that was kidnapping his charge fled his mind in a hurry. He was not being paid nearly enough to go against someone of the perpetrator's level. The hunter did not even know that said perpetrator was the second oldest member of the Zoldyck family alive and even though he was old he was still one of the most dangerous men on the planet.

That decision to avoid a confrontation saved the hunter's life.

Instead the man made his way towards the boss's room, thinking of a way to break the news. He then started making plans for the future in case he got fired. Well on second thought he was still pretty valuable to the family. If he played his cards right he could pretty much coast along on his laurels for the time. This thought was justified by the fact that he was being paid quite a bit for jobs that weren't all that difficult.

He arrived at the boss's room and glanced at the two people who were on guard duty. They were two youngsters who had been climbing through the rank of the family ever since they joined. In fact the hunter was not surprised if he was given a mission to instruct them on Nen any time soon which gave him an idea. Smirking at his quick thinking he knocked once before a voice called out to let him in.

Going inside he looked at the man on the other side of a mahogany desk. Sitting on the plush chair was his current employer, the family leader who was currently in his thirties. The man lit a cigar and leaned back on his chair, crossing his legs. He began to say something but the hunter beat him to the punch, "The kid's missing. I just checked his room and he ain't there. The window was open." The lazy hunter had decided that the boss man did not need the whole story. Had he told him that he had seen someone kidnap the kid and hadn't given chase he would've undoubtedly been fired.

So there was no need to tell him that little detail. The hunter did not know that had he been fired this night, or perhaps even later due to the events that had occurred, it would've saved his life later on. Instead the desire to mooch off the mafia family's money in order to have a relatively comfortable life made him keep his mouth shut.

The mafia leader choked on the smoke and began shouting at him, "W-What did you say!? He was your responsibility! Alert everyone and begin searching immediately!" The boy was an important factor in many of his plans later on down the road and his power would be crucial towards fulfilling his goals.

The hunter only nodded and made to leave before he added in another comment, "Well I'm sure he couldn't have gone far. We'll find him soon enough," and now to get in the boss's good graces and increase his reward, "Afterwards I'll start teaching those two kids Nen. They should come in handy down the road right? Of course that's gonna be extra but I'm sure we can figure something out…" The hunter trailed off. Whilst the family leader was pleased with his employees' sense of initiative and the idea of having other underlings who could use Nen, he had no doubts that the man was simply finding ways of increasing his own pay check. It would prove to be a worthwhile investment in the long term so he wasn't too worried though.

"You better find him…" He trailed off and his greedy underling replied as he headed out.

"You got it Mr. Nostrade."

* * *

Zeno had travelled through the night and had made good headway; Naruto had not been staying very far away from his home after all. Of course when Zeno thought that it wasn't very far away that was only because he could cover the distance in over ten hours. That distance was from a city on the north of the Republic of Padokea to his home at Kukuroo Mountain and was approximately over 500 miles. To anyone else that would've been impossible to cover in ten hours but he wasn't a Nen trained elite assassin for nothing.

When Naruto had woken up they were standing in front of the famous Testing Gates of the Zoldyck family. Noticing that Naruto was now awake he put him down from his back. Half an hour into the journey the kid had fallen asleep and Zeno had propped him on his back. It wasn't very comfortable, or safe, to hold him by the nape of his shirt and run at high speeds after all.

"Ah master Zeno you are back." The gatekeeper Zebro greeted his employer but made no attempt to question who the kid that he had brought along was. It wasn't any of his business and there was sure to be a good reason behind it.

Naruto yawned and stretched and then spoke to the gatekeeper, "Morning chief, how's it going?" Zebro glanced at his employer and was promptly ignored. Instead the old assassin walked towards the massive gates and with a simple push he opened all seven of the right panels as if it was nothing. Zebro had seen this many times but it still made him shake his head in astonishment. Zeno, and most Zoldyck family members, really were on another whole level. The noise of the massive gates opening had captured Naruto's attention and he turned around to look at them. His jaw dropped at the massive gates that were being opened with relative ease by his current employer.

Seeing the kid's astonishment Zebro decided to explain, "Those are the Testing Gates. The first two panels weigh 2 tons each. The following panels weigh double of the previous and so on and there are 7 in total. Meaning that master Zeno just pushed open 128 tons with one hand… I'm always impressed even though I've been the gatekeeper for two years now." At the end of Zebro's explanation Naruto only stared at the old man's back with a massive sweat drop. The geezer was an even bigger monster than he had imagined. No wonder he hadn't been worried about being found out whilst in the house. For the first time Naruto kinda felt out of his league and wondered what exactly he had gotten himself into. Well he had no choice now cause there was no backing out of a contract.

Actually that made a question come to mind. What would happen to Naruto if he broke a contract? He had always followed the rules of his contracts and every time one had been broken it was due to the other parties' actions. It was something to keep in mind for later Naruto figured as Zeno turned around and told him to hurry up.

The old man thought that the sooner he could set things into motion the better.

After a lengthy stroll in the woods, in which Zeno had explained that the entirety of Kukuroo Mountain belonged to his family, which had consequently made Naruto's head swim at the thought of what their coffers must look like, Naruto had met the family pet.

Mike was terrifying.

Naruto had been listening to the old man's explanations and hadn't noticed the giant dog until he bumped into him. It had taken all of his self-control to not scream in terror. Zeno had quietened him down by stating that Mike would not attack him unless Zeno told him to and he didn't plan on doing that so Naruto was safe.

He was still shaken but at least he wasn't going to become dog chow anytime soon.

Afterwards they passed through the gatekeeper's quarters as he had been informed by the butlers stationed there. At first they weren't sure if they should answer the blonde's questions but after a relenting look from Zeno they had informed him some more about the estate. Kukuroo Mountain was 3722 meters above sea level and had belonged to the Zoldyck family for generations now. All of the butlers that were hired were handpicked and trained from a young age in order to better protect the family members. After seeing what the old man was capable of the blonde wasn't sure if they needed protecting at all but kept that to himself. Naruto also wasn't quite sure what sea level was exactly but he just figured that it meant the mountain was pretty damn high.

They passed over the butler's quarters too where a young man with glasses with pointed frames and an impeccable black suit had greeted Zeno. The old man ordered the young butler, whose name was revealed to be Gotoh, to tell the family members that were in at the time that he was calling a family meeting and thus to go to the meeting room. Gotoh nodded and then called, "Canary, come here."

From seemingly nowhere a dark skinned girl, who seemed to only be a year younger than Naruto, appeared next to Gotoh. She wore a black pantsuit and had her hair done up in a weird fashion that reminded Naruto of a jester hat with multiple points. Naruto had thought about pointing that out to have a laugh but after seeing the short staff that she had in hand, which was rounded at one end and pointed out at the other, which looked incredibly sharp, he swallowed the comment he had on the tip of his tongue.

"Take Zeno-sama's guests' things and put them in one of the guest rooms." Gotoh ordered the newly hired butler's apprentice. She nodded and went to do as she was told but Naruto put his rucksack on the ground and fished out a milk carton. He then handed the rucksack over to the girl with a grin. Before she left Zeno added in that she should try and find a room as close to either Killua's room or his own.

"Yes sir." Canary replied and rushed off. Naruto was shocked at her speed. He doubted he could match that even if he tried his hardest. _'I wonder what kind of training she's gone through…'_

Gotoh then bowed and rushed off to complete his own task. If Naruto had been surprised by Canary's speed he was blown away by Gotoh's. The man had literally blurred out of sight. Still reeling from his shock he was forced to jog in order to catch up to the old assassin. With that giant beast of a dog Mike lurking around he did not want to get separated from Zeno.

A couple of minutes later Naruto felt something trigger his self-dubbed sixth sense off. He squinted his eyes and peered through a cluttering of trees to his right. Zeno then spoke, "What is it Milluki?" and from the direction Naruto had been looking at a chubby kid who seemed to be ten walked out from behind a tree. He was wearing a grey hoodie with an image of some kind of anime character and was holding onto the hands of a two year old. The toddler was wearing a grey sweater and blue pants and had his hand in his mouth. In all honesty the little kid was quite cute but there was something that creeped Naruto out about him. It wasn't even his sixth sense, just something felt weird. Deciding to ignore the feeling he tuned in to the conversation in front of him.

"Grandpa I heard you were back. Who is this?" The chubby kid greeted and questioned his grandfather in the same breath. Naruto stored the info that he was Zeno's grandchild for later and assumed that the toddler with him was another grandchild.

"Well it's good I've already found you. I'm calling a family meeting and I'll explain everything there so come along." The so called Milluki nodded and matched their pace towards the mansion. Normally Naruto would've said something but his sixth sense hadn't stopped. It had only gotten worse which meant that it was indeed coming from the chubby kid next to him. This disturbed Naruto which is why he didn't strike up a conversation, instead he just decided to ignore him although he did smile at the toddler. Even though he had been kind of creeped out at first the little one was cute so he put his previous thoughts behind him. In return the young child had only looked up at him with a blank face and a spark of curiosity in his eyes.

Deciding to at least say something Naruto questioned Zeno, "What's the chibi's name?" The old assassin glanced at the boy from the corner of his eye and replied that he was called Kalluto and was Zeno's youngest grandchild.

* * *

About twenty minutes later they finally reached the mansion. Naruto whistled as he looked up at the giant house in front of him. It put the Nostrade families' to shame. The house was absolutely massive and was made up of an architecture that hinted at both good taste and a like for the traditional look. Not that Naruto could tell because at this point in time he wasn't very cultured at all.

They walked through the halls and Naruto noticed that there were various paintings, some probably of family members; in fact he saw Zeno's and one of Milluki along with others. There was one of a muscled and stern faced man with long flowing silver hair and slitted blue eyes. Next to his there was one of a woman in a black kimono with her hair pulled up into a big bun. The strangest thing was that she had an electronic visor that covered her eyes.

Naruto was beginning to think that everyone in this family were weirdos.

He'd look back and see that he had no idea how right he was at the time.

The next one was of a teenager with jet black hair that reached his shoulders wearing long sleeves and a shirt underneath and grey pants. The guy kind of looked normal, except for his seemingly empty large black eyes.

They finally arrived at a large room which was mostly taken up by a long table. Naruto assumed that this was due to the fact that the family itself was large. Standing at the space available past the table were all of the people Naruto had seen in the paintings along with another boy. He seemed, like that Canary girl, to be a year younger than Naruto. The boy had spiky silver hair, very light skin and blue eyes. He wore a blueish green jacket and a blue turtleneck sweater underneath with blue shorts.

"Everyone's here, good. This young'un here is someone I met in my last mission. His name is Naruto Uzumaki and he was my target but I decided to bring him along instead of killing him." Zeno gestured towards Naruto and he waved at them. Killua smiled at the kid's nonchalance at the fact that his grandfather had announced that he had been supposed to kill him and waved back to him.

'_Well at least he seems to be normal.'_ Naruto noted with happiness.

"I see…" Silva trailed off as he waited for his father to continue on. There had to be a pretty good reason for Zeno to bring back his mission target instead of killing him. Naruto interrupted then by pointing out something that Zeno had confirmed,

"Ah so you really _were_ hired to kill me. I half thought you'd only said that to get a rise out of me old dude." The blonde said in between sips of his chocolate milk. Killua only blinked in puzzlement; didn't he find this situation weird? Killua then concluded that the chocolate-sipping strange blond must be special if his grandfather spared him.

"Hmph, I did say that before didn't I kid?" Zeno replied as he glanced at the short blonde out of the corner of his eye and he hummed in confirmation.

"So what's my job exactly old dude? You haven't really told me anything about it." That fact was actually kind of bothering Naruto. The reason why was because in hindsight he realized that he might've screwed up when he worded the contract. In the contract Naruto hadn't specified what the job or request was. How did then the contract know if Naruto had fulfilled it or not when he completed the task? It was a thought that he had been pondering upon through their walk up to the mansion and it scared him.

What if the contract could not be fulfilled because Zeno had not told him what the request was even if he completed said request? In Naruto's mind that basically meant that because of the way he worded it he would be bound by it forever. However if he couldn't complete the contract he always had the choice of breaking it. But that again lead to the question:

What would happen to Naruto if he broke one of his own contracts?

Naruto didn't want to find out in all honesty.

"Youngsters these days… I was getting to that kid. I want you to make a contract with one of my grandchildren. I'll tell you the terms so don't worry about that." Zeno picked up from where he left off. To Naruto it didn't seem like that big of a deal but according to the reactions that statement roused it apparently was.

"Honourable grandfather you cannot mean…" Silva's wife, Kikyo Zoldyck spoke up with a hesitant tone. Her husband next to her only frowned and took a closer look at Naruto. He had noticed that the kid a high amount of Nen for his age but he was apparently even more special than he had first seemed. Killua then questioned Zeno,

"What do you mean by a contract?" He gazed curiously at his grandfather. Naruto decided to jump in and explain his talents. It was partly because ever since he had seen just how awesome it was Naruto had taken a particular pride in his ability but it was also so he could hopefully make a good impression on the normal looking silver haired boy. It wouldn't hurt to have a friend whilst being here right?

"Basically I can make contracts with… uhm I think it was called Nen. And whatever terms I write down in the contract have to be followed by me and whoever signs it. If there's a breach in the terms then whoever broke it will be punished accordingly. I'm not entirely sure but I think that the more complicated the terms the greater the punishment although I haven't tested whether that's true yet." Naruto spoke in between sips of his chocolate milk again. Killua hummed in response. His grandfather had explained that later on Killua would develop his own assassination techniques through a special power. He wondered if it was the same thing.

"Another thing that I've noticed is that the contract is binding in a physical sense too." Zeno added in his own two cents. Naruto turned around to look at him with a confused expression,

"Whaddya mean physically binding? Huh?" Zeno sighed and explained that on the way here in order to test what would happen if he tried to harm Naruto under the influence of the contract he had set the blonde down for a second and acted as if he would attack him. Much to his surprise he had felt an actual force restrict his movement and it wasn't until he banished any thoughts of harming the blonde that the force had left him and he was able to pick him up again. Zeno estimated that he could probably have been able to break the force with a combination of pure strength and Nen but he had deduced that if the binding in the contract was this strong it meant that the consequence for breaking it would be worse.

Naruto completely ignored the fact that the old man tried to hit him or worse whilst he was asleep and questioned his logic instead, "But with the way I worded it wouldn't you have just taken as much damage as I did?" he would've continued with the logic but he realised where it lead.

If Zeno was simply tough enough to not care about the damage he took didn't that make the contract a bit pointless? Sure he would take the same damage as Naruto but if he was strong enough to ignore it, in other words if his pain tolerance was high enough, then it didn't matter to him. On the other hand whilst Naruto had been beat in the past and it had built up some pain resistance it probably wasn't on the level of an assassin like Zeno.

The old man pretended not to realise the follow up of Naruto's logic and spoke again, "Perhaps however there's no guarantee that I wouldn't be penalised separately. Once for breaking the term and another time for breaking the contract itself. With what you've told me all the terms that you've made so far were along the lines of 'do this or you'll die'. When a person would break these terms they would be punished for breaking the contract and as a result they would be assaulted with your Nen. However you assumed that they had been penalised for breaking the contract and not for both failing the terms set which thus _led_ to the contract being broken."

Naruto stared at him as his mind tried to comprehend the old man's logic. So he was basically saying that because previously the punishment for breaking a contract with him was death, he couldn't tell if a person got penalised for going against the term set and _then_ penalised for breaking the contract? Because in the case of breaking a contract where the punishment stated for failing the term was death then either way the person would die right?

Naruto continued to ponder this as he looked down at the ground. Silva, Kikyo and Illumi on the other hand immediately understood why this ability was both useful and dangerous. If there was a separate penalisation for failing to follow a term and for breaking the contract this meant that even if you survived the first Nen assault there was still a chance to be done in by the second.

And if what the blonde had said about the more complicated the terms, the more powerful the contract and the more severe the consequences for breaking one was true it meant that if this ability was used properly it could be incredibly powerful.

Illumi was very interested in it.

Naruto, because he was so deep in thought, missed the calculating gaze that Silva's oldest son gave him.

"Hmmm that sounds pretty handy… by the way who did you mean grandpa?" Killua questioned after admitting that it sounded impressive.

"He means Alluka right?" Illumi answered Killua's question with his own. The young assassin then frowned. A contract with Alluka? But from what they had been told breaking one was dangerous so wasn't it dangerous to make one with Alluka in the first place?

"Grandpa… what kind of contract?" Killua stepped forward and Naruto was surprised at the sudden hostility in his tone. He wondered who Alluka was before concluding that young boy must've cared about him or her. Along with the hostility there was also a hint of protectiveness in his voice.

Zeno stared at his grandchild. He had the same thoughts on the way. Zeno would be the last to admit but his decision to bring Naruto along to make a contract with Alluka had not been entirely thought out. Which is why on the way here he had been thinking of a safe contract to make. The old assassin came to the conclusion that completely restricting Alluka's abilities would probably be the best thing to do. That way she would not make any requests and thus it would be safe to let her out of her room. The obvious downside was that they would lose an incredibly powerful tool to the family but considering the fact that they currently were not using her _because_ they were afraid of the repercussions it would be pointless to make a contract that would do less.

"Hmmm… ideally one to seal her abilities. Even if it is temporarily it'd be for the best. Don't you agree Silva?" Zeno replied and looked to his son. Killua thought about what it meant to seal Alluka's ability. This meant that she wouldn't have to be locked in her room anymore right? He could take her outside on his walks and play with her and not have to worry about her making requests anymore.

It almost sounded too good to be true.

Killua adored his little sister; she was one of the things that he loved the most in his short life. It was for this reason that he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. She was a breath of fresh air from the darkness; from the assassinations that he was sent to do, from the bloodshed and from the immense pressure put onto him from his family. Alluka did not expect anything from Killua except for his unconditional love which Killua was more than happy to give her.

"…You can do that?" The boy murmured in the silence that had taken over the room. Silva along with Kikyo had been thinking whether that was the best solution and thus had not replied to Zeno's question. Naruto blinked and tilted his head,

"Well I can try. Actually I _have_ to try cuz otherwise I might get punished for breaking the contract ya know?" the blonde replied to the child assassin. Killua frowned before biting his lip. Silva looked at his son and then spoke,

"Killua?" the boy in question turned around at his father's voice and the older Zoldyck continued, "What do you think?" Killua blinked in shock. He was actually getting asked his opinion about something like this? His mother turned to her husband and frowned at him. Killua was talented yes but he was too young to be involved in these matters, he didn't even know what Nen was yet!

"Dear, Killua-kun isn't old enough to know what's best." The child frowned in annoyance at his mother's logic but his father then replied,

"That may be the case but Killua is the one who knows Alluka best. I want his opinion on this matter." Silva explained as he crossed his arms. Milluki was the next to protest but a sharp look from his father shut him up. Looks like he was still pissed about Milluki using Alluka's powers to get him a brand new computer. The chubby kid swallowed what he was going to say next and only held onto Kalluto's hands tighter.

Killua looked at his father for a few moments before replying, "I think we should do it. I don't want Alluka to be locked up in that room forever." Silva considered his son's response. It was what he had expected. Killua was very emotionally attached to Alluka and in a way that was a good thing; it meant that Killua would undoubtedly do what was best for his little sister. But the logical part of Silva added in that what may be best for Alluka may not be necessarily best for the family as a whole.

In this case however he agreed with his talented son.

"I concur, this is probably the best solution for Alluka's and the family's sake." Silva nodded his head and Killua smiled at his father. He then turned around to Naruto and in a flash was shaking his shoulders,

"There you have it so you can make that contract thingy now right? Hurry up and do it then!" Naruto was mercilessly shaken around like a ragdoll, his head being whipped back and forth before Zeno put his hand on top of Killua's head to calm him down.

"Killua, he needs to meet Alluka first. And before that he also needs to see clearly so stop shaking him."

"Ah I see then. Sorry about that." Killua told Naruto as he let go of his shoulders. The blond stumbled around a bit with swirls in his eyes but gave him thumbs up anyways. Silva then decided to intervene as well as explain something to his son,

"Killua we won't have him do it immediately." The silver haired child turned around with a disappointed look and questioned,

"Huh why not pops?" Zeno was the one to reply to him however,

"It's because we first need to see what the safest way to use Naruto's power is. You don't want Alluka to get hurt right?" Killua nodded in consent before stepping back.

The blonde in question had finally gotten the swirls out of his eyes and spoke, "Well there ya have it… Killua right?" Naruto said and the child assassin realised that they hadn't been formally introduced yet,

"Yeah, Killua Zoldyck; nice to meet you," Killua then turned around and began to introduce the rest of the family members one by one, "That over there is my dad, Silva, and my mom Kikyo," he motioned to the stern faced man with the slitted pupils who only nodded back to Naruto and the woman with the strange visor who gave a 'too nice' smile at the blonde, "Over there is my big brother Illumi," Next he motioned to the tall young man with the empty black eyes and short haircut who waved and greeted him happily. Naruto could tell that the smile wasn't all that truthful but he didn't care enough to try and figure out why.

Then Killua questioned Naruto, "You met Milluki and Kalluto on your way here right?" the blonde nodded his head and replied,

"Yup, the chibi and the… otaku right?" Said mentioned otaku grew a tick mark at being called out whilst the chibi only tilted her head. Killua laughed at the new kid's description of Milluki and decided that they would get along just fine.

"Well you already know grandpa Zeno so that's everyone in the family. Have you met Canary and Gotoh?" The child assassin asked Naruto and said blonde replied that Gotoh was the tall teen with the framed glasses whilst Canary was the young girl with the peculiar hairstyle. Killua nodded in satisfaction at the fact that he knew.

A growling sound was then heard and Naruto then questioned, "So when's breakfast?" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment whilst chuckling.

* * *

That was six months ago. Now he was going to make the contract with Alluka. Over the past six months Naruto's ability had been stretched, pulled, squashed, and pretty much tested in every way that the eccentric family could think of. He said eccentric but he really meant crazy. Illumi was a complete creep whilst Milluki was incredibly annoying. Kalluto wasn't too bad and he enjoyed playing with the toddler. Kikyo was not that bad when he got to know her but he was still put on edge when with her.

The ones he liked the most were Zeno, Silva and Killua. Whilst he already liked the old man because he was witty and fun to talk to he had been surprised that Silva was rather easy to talk to as well. Killua had practically dragged Naruto into his father's room when he had learned that Naruto was hesitant in speaking to the man because he thought he was intimidating. His newest friend had simply asked his dad to tell them stories of his adventures and fights and just like that the awkwardness had been broken.

Naruto had been more sucked in than Killua by the tales. The boy figured that it was because Killua had heard stories like these quite a few times and had even had his own adventures on his assassination missions.

In all honesty Naruto had not believed Killua when he had said that he was an assassin but after a short demonstration of what he was capable of he had taken back his words. And he had also been jealous. The boy was actually _two_ years younger than him but he was incomparably stronger. It was the same with Canary too; she was the same age as Killua and was too stronger than Naruto in every way. From pure strength to speed to stamina they had him beat.

Killua had offered to show Naruto some things and the blonde had been excited but their hopes had been brought crashing down when they spoke to Zeno about. The old assassin told them that Naruto could not have any harm done to him otherwise it would break the contract they had signed.

It was then that Killua innocently suggested that in that case why didn't they simply alter the contract?

Both Zeno and Naruto stared at him as if he was from another planet for a couple of seconds. They blinked a couple of times and Naruto admitted that he had never thought if he could do that. Killua encouraged him to try and Zeno agreed that it was a good idea, and that it opened a lot of possibilities.

Naruto had then sat himself down on the floor and thought of how he would go about doing this. He thought for all of two seconds before deciding that he would simply do just as he had done previously; he simply wished for his ability to activate and it did.

"**Deal with the Devil: The Contractor, **activate!" After those words and a burst of Nen the roll of parchment that Naruto wrote in to make contracts appeared in his hand along with the bottle of ink and the black quill. The parchment was completely blank and Naruto figured that he needed to call up the one that he had made the contract with Zeno on.

Making his intentions known by speaking out loud Naruto continued, "Amend the contract made with Zeno Zoldyck!" After that was said the words began to appear on the parchment and Naruto realised that it was the contract he had drawn up. Then it rolled upwards so there was more space to write on it and the writing that was on it previously became translucent. The words seemingly lost the solidness that they had and Zeno commented that it was perhaps because the contract was being reviewed with the intention to be amended, therefore it signified that Naruto had not made the decision whether he would reaffirm those terms or not.

It was thus that Naruto had written the contract again but this time he had added the exception that should he beforehand have agreed to it harm was allowed to befall him as long as it was in a controlled manner. Satisfied with his work he read it all over again and immediately noticed that there had been another change, one that he had not made.

Whereas before it said that Naruto would fulfil Zeno's request, now it said that Naruto would fulfil Zeno's request which was to make a contract with his granddaughter, Alluka Zoldyck.

The contract had updated it by itself. This told Zeno, Naruto and Killua (after it had been explained to him what else had changed) that his ability was sentient to an extent, or it at the very least was based on what Naruto knew at the time and could be updated as he gained new information.

The fact that Naruto could alter the terms in contracts previously made and that said contracts could change as new information was introduced encouraged Naruto and the Zoldyck family to test his ability even more. They had discovered the following things:

Naruto could not alter a contract more than twice. A third attempt would result in the contract being nulled. He also did not need the other parties' consent to altering the contracts like he did when first making one. His max of five contracts a day could be upped because after he had done some training with both Killua and, later on at his request, with Zeno his physical capabilities and Nen reserves had been improved upon and his current max was ten contracts a day. This also showed that the strength of a contract that Naruto made was directly linked to how strong he was Nen wise.

Zeno had taught him the basic Nen techniques that any Nen user could use. The basic ones were Ten, Zetsu and Ren. The old assassin explained that there was the last one called Hatsu however it was the technique that Naruto was already using in order to make contracts so there was no need to reteach him it.

They had then moved on to other techniques such as Gyo, an advanced application of Ren_,_ by which a Nen-user can concentrate a larger than normal portion of their aura into one specific body part. Gyo increased the strength of that one body part, but it left the rest of the body more vulnerable because less aura would be flowing through it. Zeno told him that Gyo was most often used in the eyes, allowing a Nen-user to see aura and things which would otherwise be hidden.

Naruto asked what he meant by that and Zeno replied by teaching him about In, an advanced form of Zetsu, which is used to almost completely conceal the presence of a Nen-user's aura. In could also be used on a Nen-user's Hatsu ability to make it invisible to other Nen-users.

His current instructor had explained about En, a technique where you combined Ten and Ren. It was used as a scouting technique because you deployed your aura around you, usually in the shape of a sphere, and you could feel the shape and movement of anything in it.

Naruto commented that it probably came in handy for assassinations and Zeno replied that sometimes it did. For example when he was in the mafia family's house he had used En to monitor any incoming threats. However the man explained that the downside to En was that it could be felt by skilled Nen users which meant that using En was like broadcasting that you were scouting for something.

The old assassin and Naruto's Nen instructor for the time being had then taught the blonde about the other basic techniques. They were Shu, which was an advanced application of Ten where a Nen-user would shroud an object with aura in order to fortify it.

Ken: a defensive application of Gyo all over a Nen-user's body. Zeno told him that this was an incredibly important technique which was most commonly used when you were being cautious in a fight and were hanging back and analysing your opponent.

In contrast to that there was the 100% offensive technique Ko where a Nen-user would focus their entire aura into one body part, or a weapon they were using, for maximum damage. Zeno had explained that Ko was a risky technique because it left the rest of your body unprotected and one attack from a Nen-user could be devastating in that condition.

Lastly there had been Ryu, which was the practical real time use of Gyo in a fight. This was when they had begun to spar. Zeno could not be bothered because he was tired of teaching things to the youngster whose thirst for knowledge seemed to be insatiable and thus Illumi had stepped up to the challenge.

Naruto had gotten the crap kicked out of him.

Illumi was an _absolute_ _monster_. Nothing that Naruto tried worked. He had tried everything from throwing dirt into his eyes to trying to ambush Illumi using Zetsu to simply rushing him at his fastest but he simply was not good enough. Even after the physical conditioning that Naruto had gone through with Killua he was simply not skilled enough. Naruto had gotten frustrated and used Ko in order to try and actually land a meaningful blow on the teenager but he had simply blocked it using Gyo almost effortlessly.

Zeno, who had been watching by the side lines and whom had been joined by Silva and Kikyo after they had felt the flux of aura at the front of the house, commented to them that this was a good idea. It served to keep the blonde humble and to increase his skills so a safer and more powerful contract could be made with Alluka when the time came.

Neither Silva nor Kikyo commented on what exactly was the use of keeping the blonde humble to the family out of respect for the old man but also because they understood to an extent.

They had gotten attached to the odd Nen genius. It was hard not to, the kid had a warm personality and his quirks made him endearing in a way. He did not judge or find their ways weird but instead asked and commented on the things that he found interesting with a simple mindedness that only a child could have.

He had also befriended Killua, which Illumi had been against first because he argued that Killua did not need friends, but Silva had shot that idea down when he stated that Killua had been more focused and determined to succeed ever since the blonde had come to the household. Zeno explained that it was because Killua saw Naruto as a rival as much as a friend; they competed against each other in order to see which one was better and this drove Killua to improve.

Illumi had seen the advantage in this and thus had backed down. It was because of this that he had even volunteered to spar against the blonde so the Nen genius could practise the Nen techniques that Zeno had taught him. He figured that the more he pushed the blonde, the more Naruto would push Killua and thus the stronger Killua would become. Deciding that there was no harm in it he _trained _with Naruto in gusto in between missions.

Of course if you asked Naruto it was more like _torture_. The teenager curb stomped Naruto whenever he was home. The blonde would be covered in bruises, cuts and even sometimes burn marks after their _training _sessions. And when Illumi would leave on a job he would order Gotoh to pick up the slack and drill the blonde into the ground.

Per his master's orders Gotoh would do just that. The young butler commented to Naruto that it would serve to improve the blonde's skills and that Gotoh could practise his own which led to Naruto having to run, duck and dodge for _his life_ as the, in his opinion, sadistic butler fired coins with the power of bullets at him.

Seriously those things could pierce _trees_, they were insane!

At the same time Killua did not wish to be left out of the fun and had approached his father about Nen. Silva could not argue that Killua was too young to use it if he did not think that Killua was too young to commit cold blooded murder and thus had decided to teach his son a thing or two. The young assassin was taught the basic techniques like Naruto had been taught and had taken to practising with the young blonde as well as Gotoh and, sometimes, Canary.

However it had payed off a lot. Naruto was now, both Nen wise and physically wise, more than twice as strong as he first was when he was working for the mob family.

Also whether the strength of the contracts would increase according to Naruto's Nen reserves was confirmed when after increasing the amount of Nen he had, Naruto made a contract with Zeno again and it had been harder for the old man to try and break it. Naruto had used as many terms as he had the first time and had made them just about as complicated in order for a fair comparison so it was a reliable observation.

It was also proven by the fact that the contract that they had originally became harder for Zeno to try and break as well. Another thing was that the more terms a contract had the more Nen it took for it to be made but the more powerful it was. It was the same thing with the more complicated the terms were which meant that a very powerful contract should be made of a lot of complex terms.

Naruto had also found out what the punishment was for him breaking his own contract. It had been incredibly annoying to say the least. His Nen had been locked down for an entire month and moreover all the contracts that he had at the time were nulled. They weren't put on hold; they were completely wiped out meaning that Naruto had to make his contract with Zeno again. This was what led to him making his next discovery:

Making a contract with an exception to the terms stated in it was _a lot _more Nen consuming than making a normal contract. After finding this out he had then tried to make a contract with as many complex terms as he thought he could handle at the time _and _with an exception to it.

He had been promptly been knocked out cold for two weeks because he simply did not have enough Nen for the task. Zeno told him that it was a failsafe as much as a restriction; using all of your Nen was fatal and so was trying to use techniques that required more Nen than you _actually_ had.

Another discovery they made was that the terms had to be balanced otherwise it was easy for the parties involved to break the contract and when they did break it the according punishment was not very powerful at all.

In other words the terms could not put one party at a massive advantage to the other or the contract wouldn't be very powerful binding wise and punishment wise. In a contract where there was an exchange of items after a service had been done the item or items stated had to be of a near value, whether money wise or importance wise to the one signing the contract, as the service being requested or the binding effect of the contract and the punishment effect for breaking it would, again, not be very powerful.

On the other hand Naruto had shown that when he successfully made a really complicated contract without being knocked out and someone broke it…

The results hadn't been pretty. The amount of Nen that had assaulted the person in question, a glory hunting bounty hunter that had tried to assault the estate, was immense. The keyword was 'tried' because one foreboding glare from Mike had the man pissing himself. Illumi had been nearby at the time and had taken the man instead of letting Mike eat him for the purpose of testing Naruto's abilities.

Naruto did not wish to do that again to someone.

The punishment had been _devastating_. The man had been a Nen user that according to Illumi had just about as much Nen as Naruto had but it didn't matter. The making of the contract itself had used a ridiculous amount of Nen.

Zeno told him after what was left of the man's remains, a few strands of hair and his right shoe along with a massive stain of blood, had been cleaned up that he figured the punishment was calculated as such:

It was the starting amount of Nen that had been spent in making the contract, which could be increased by adding more complex terms and/or exceptions, plus however many of the terms had been broken. This meant that if someone broke _all_ of the terms stated the punishment would be doubly as powerful as the amount of Nen put in to making the contract. He wasn't sure how much power the exception stated in the contract contributed to it but it was still incredibly deadly.

Naruto vowed to keep messing around and experimenting with this amazing power he had been blessed with. He once again asked that Zeno would continue to help him in Nen training and the old man had agreed.

The old assassin told himself it was because he wanted, when the time came, for Naruto to make a powerful contract as possible with Alluka however a part of him realised that it wasn't just that. Ever since the blonde had come to live with them the house had felt more alive than Zeno could ever remember. Killua was more talkative as well as more driven in his training. He could tell that Silva and even Kikyo to an extent enjoyed the blonde's company. His seemingly innocent curiosity in all types of manners was endearing as was his open mind to pretty much anything. It could be attributed to his less than perfect moral compass that Naruto gotten along swimmingly well with himself, Killua, his parents and Kalluto as well as Alluka.

Naruto had met Alluka. After being told of Alluka's condition, that she was a natural Nen genius like he was and of how her power worked, he had insisted on meeting her. Naruto had never met someone like him so she had intrigued him. At first the others had been against it but Naruto calmly analysed that Alluka could not make requests to someone if she did not know their name. Naruto even questioned whether it was possible for him to meet Alluka under a false name and whether Alluka would still make requests of him.

Zeno and the others admitted that they had not thought about that possibility and it was then that Naruto had seen Illumi's cruelty first hand yet again. The young man had told him to introduce himself to Alluka under a random name and then had seemingly questioned to himself: if Alluka _did_ make requests to the random name and Naruto denied four of them, would Naruto die or would any person who had that name die?

Naruto had refused to test it out, afraid of the consequences. It was not simply because there was a chance that he might die but also because if the second scenario was true the amount of casualties that he would, indirectly, be responsible for would be huge.

Instead he had not told his name to Alluka when meeting her. He and Killua would play with Alluka in her room or outside whenever no one else was around. It was strange that Alluka did not make requests of Killua when they were playing but both took that as a blessing and did question why it was. Alluka had gotten as attached to Naruto as she was to Killua. Even if she couldn't make requests to him like carrying her on his back or throwing her up high Naruto still did regardless. He enjoyed the chibi's company and found her to be endearing.

Killua had told Naruto that he was going to do whatever it took to protect Alluka and Naruto as his friend agreed that he would help too. This had solidified their friendship even further.

* * *

After all was said and done the whole family decided that it was finally time for Naruto to make the contract with Alluka. Naruto went in to Alluka's room after being told by Zeno what the terms were.

'Do not make requests of anyone unless told otherwise. In return you'll be allowed to have as much freedom as you want.'

It was exceedingly simple. However Naruto, just like Killua, gnashed their teeth at the wording. They were intending to have Alluka's freedom, of being able to go outside and playing as much as she wanted with her beloved brother, restricted so mercilessly? It made Naruto frown; this was not how he wanted to use his powers.

One could call him a hypocrite because previously he had also made contracts where someone's freedom or even life was at stake. However those people had been mafia thugs! They had been murderers, conmen, rapists and greedy assholes that did everything they did for power and money! Alluka was different; she was just an innocent child that had no blame in developing those powers, it wasn't her fault!

Naruto understood however just why the contract was worded so simply. Whilst the wording might've been simple it actually wasn't. The first phrase used the vague term 'anyone'. Naruto and the others had discovered that when vague wording that covered a wide range of things was used it counted as an incredibly complex term and thus it gave the contract a lot of power.

For example if Naruto was to make a contract with Killua that Killua could not eat chocolate-balls, his favourite, and in return Naruto would give him a chocolate milk carton, this meant that Killua could not have chocolate-balls but he could have any other form of chocolate.

However if Naruto worded the contract differently, saying that Killua could not have _any_ chocolate and in return he would give him sweets, for example, then Killua could not have _any _chocolate. This did not only mean things that were only made out of chocolate, it even applied to things that only had the slightest trace of the sweet goodiness in it. No matter how little of it there was Killua could not eat them no matter what, no matter how hard he tried to struggle against the powerful force restricting him it was hopeless.

Killua had never felt as much despair. Seeing the state his friend was in Naruto had decided to null the contract. They had all discovered that Naruto could null a contract without having to break it but the punishment was not being able to use Nen for a week. In comparison to the month long ban it was _much_ better.

So using a blanket term that could apply to a lot of things counted as a very powerful term, which in term would have a very powerful binding effect. However in this contract there were two 'blanket terms'. Freedom counted as a vague term too which meant that this contract was going to be very powerful. The use of an exception in the contract served to only make it even stronger.

So Naruto got to work. He sat down in front of Alluka and smiled at the curious look the chibi was giving him. Focusing and exercising his Nen Naruto activated his ability. In response the signature roll of parchment, bottle of ink and black quill appeared on the ground in front of him.

He quickly wrote down the contract on the parchment and looked over it just to make sure there were no mistakes. He doubled and even tripled checked it and it was then he was satisfied with it. He walked over to Alluka and placed the parchment in front of her, sitting himself by her side he spoke, "Alluka-chan, can you sign your name on this?" said toddler only tilted her head at him. Naruto at first had no idea how a two year old was going to sign her name but because they had discovered the following it did not matter.

When signing a contract it was not required for the other party to sign their name. An abbreviation or nickname would do. Even a false name would work. That was because the contract did not recognize who it was signed with by _name_, it recognized by the person's Nen. The person did not need to even be initiated in Nen, the moment they signified their acceptance of the terms the contract would take a bit of their Nen as a 'signature' and thus it would be formed. However the act of signing it was important because that was how his ability would store a tiny bit of Nen of the person in question which would be used to recognize them as the one mentioned in the contract. This meant that forging a signature was meaningless and that Naruto had to get the right person to actually sign the contract otherwise it wouldn't apply to them.

However Naruto had to sign his name on it. They had tried everything, from having him use a false name to nicknames or even having someone else write down their name in the space for _**Maker:**_ and nothing had worked. Naruto had to be the one to sign and he had to sign his full name or the contract would not activate.

So he watched as Alluka scribbled down some gibberish, it didn't matter because the second the quill, which was held in her hand, had touched the parchment a bit of aura had been absorbed into the parchment. Using Gyo Naruto had been able to see it clearly.

Naruto took the contract from her hands and with a massive build-up of Nen his ability activated.

"**Deal with the Devil: The Contractor **activate!" With a huge amount of effort his ability took effect. The amount of Nen used was truly massive. It swirled around in the room in a torrent of white and black energy, making the lights blink and the walls tremble and circling the two children before it started being condensed and compressed into the roll of parchment in Naruto's hands and then disappeared after a few minutes. Outside of the room the rest of the family had watched the events that had occurred and Zeno immediately noted something.

The amount of Nen used had been perhaps twice as much as the contract that Naruto had made with the old man. Said contract also had a blanket term in it "any harm" and there was also an exception in it. But the amount of power used in the making of the contracts was completely different. Was it because Naruto had gotten stronger since making that one?

'_No. When he had to remake that contract with the exception he had already gotten stronger. Since then he has not made such a huge amount of progress that it would lead to such a difference...' _

Unbeknownst to Zeno and the others Naruto had perhaps discovered the most important rule to his ability. When he had activated it he wished, with all of his will and might, that the contract be as strong as possible for Alluka's sake and, like always, his Nen had replied. It had thus poured out as much aura into the making of the contract as it was safe for its wielder. Enough to make it as powerful as possible but not too much that it would have to knock out its wielder for his safety because he would've been using way too much aura and it could lead to his death.

So Naruto again found himself in a massive state of exhaustion after the activation. He blinked his eye lids sluggishly and felt someone pick him up with a vague sense of detachment. It was the old man that had gotten him into this mess. Unbidden a memory made its way to the forefront of Naruto's mind. This had happened before, right after making the contract with Zeno he had felt a massive wave of tiredness hit him and had fallen asleep shortly.

Naruto realised it was because back then he too had wished that the contract would be as powerful as possible, to save his own hide, but this time he wished so it would benefit someone else. His last thought before he went to sleep was:

Doing something for someone else or doing it for yourself; which one made it stronger?

* * *

**So there ya have it. Naruto begins to question whether it's better to use the power he was blessed with for himself or for others.**

**Personally I'm pretty happy with how Naruto's ability worked out. I feel that it has a lot of potential but at the same time isn't just downright overpowered and I enjoyed making rules, requirements and exceptions to it but in return making his ability even stronger because he's using them. I'm aiming for this to be a smart story with smart fights and the like so I'll try my best to make it like that.**

**If you were wondering about the pacing thing I mentioned at the start, after reading this chapter you probably know what I meant. Like I said I'm not happy about it personally because I don't think I'm progressing enough with the story but at the same time I like writing in a detailed fashion, giving a lot of insight as to how characters think and react to situations, so I'm torn. Anyways lemme know what you think.**

**Lastly it would make me write a lot faster if I got at least ten reviews on this chap… ;)**

**See ya.**


	3. Job x And x Spiders

Well here it finally is. First things first I don't own Hunter x Hunter and Naruto so don't sue me. Secondly the response to the second chapter was absolutely fucking awesome! You guys rock! I honestly did not expect to get that many reviews and I have to admit I fangirled for a sec. Just a sec though.

Also someone mentioned in one of the reviews that I should've finished the first chapter before posting. I checked it out and omg that's embarrassing. I guess that's what I get for trying to post a chap using the mobile version of fanfiction -.- I'm gonna go back and correct that after I post this chapter.

Anyways without further ado here is the chapter. As always have fun.

* * *

The morning after Naruto woke up in his bed. He got up, stretched and yawned and began getting ready for the day in a relaxed manner.

Until of course his excitement got the best out of him and he rushed around the room, putting his clothes on before dashing out of his room and down the hallways because he couldn't contain his curiosity. He then came to a stop at the dining/meeting room.

Alluka was currently being surrounded by the Zoldyck family.

Standing in front of her was Killua who was smiling like an idiot. He was picking her up whilst she reached out with her hands to grab him. Behind Killua stood Silva with a hand on his son's head. Milluki stood next to his mother as she watched on with a neutral expression. Kalluto was gripping Kikyo's kimono as she watched with a hint of jealousy at Killua's interactions with Alluka whilst Illumi stood off to one side staring at the scene with a blank gaze.

Naruto went to say something but decided not to. He didn't want to infringe upon this family scene. A hand tapped his shoulder and he turned to see Zeno standing next to him.

"It was a success kid. Your ability did the job." The old man commented to the short blonde. Naruto grinned in happiness at the confirmation but it was dulled by the reminder of the terms. There must be a better way to solve this than practically hold Alluka's freedom hostage. Instead of getting depressed though he figured that for now he would enjoy his success.

"Of course it worked; who do you think I am old man?" Naruto gave Zeno a victory sign. The old assassin chuckled in response at this and shook his head as he gestured towards the group. Naruto turned around to see that the rest of the family was looking at him then. He blinked at the sudden silence, "What is it you guys?"

Silva crossed his arms and spoke, "We are very thankful for what you've done Naruto." Said boy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at being put into the spotlight all of a sudden. After having lived here for the past six months Naruto had gotten comfortable around them enough that he had dropped his mask of nonchalance. He had worn it to deal with what life had thrown at him whilst at the same time trying to figure out what was the best course of action; what he could do with the cards that were given to him and the situations that he got put into, always trying to stay calm and analyse the situation as best as he could. Naruto would admit that he probably was not the smartest kid his age but having to fend for himself had taught him to think things through. Especially after that fiasco with the slave trader.

However he had grown fond of this odd family. Some nights just before he fell asleep he would, even if it was for a second, think that this was a little bit like having a family. And that thought would make him get up in the morning in high spirits and ready to face the challenges of the day.

Most of the time those challenges were comprised of getting his ass kicked by Illumi and trying to not get eaten by Mike but still; you gotta take the good with the bad.

"Yeah really… thanks." Killua mumbled as he held Alluka close to him. Naruto only grinned in response and then Illumi cut in.

"But this means your job is over… what a shame, it was fun having a moving punching bag…" He then sighed despondently and Naruto glared at him as he gained a tick mark. Illumi completely ignored the dark aura Naruto was giving off and turned away from him, "I kinda feel bad now about the bruises, and the cuts, and the scorch marks and so on…"

"You don't feel sorry at all you sadistic bastard!" Naruto pointed at Illumi and cried out in outrage at the sly smile on his face.

Milluki snorted and turned his head away from the enraged blonde, "Well it was about time you stopped freeloading off us."

"You eat twice as much as I do and you don't do jack!" Killua laughed whilst Naruto turned his anger towards the chubby kid.

"What was that you blonde rat!? It takes a lot of calories to power someone as brilliant as I am!" Milluki gnashed his teeth as he glared at the smirking blonde.

"Hmmmm well I guess you'd need a lot of energy to clean every one of those creepy figurines you have huh?" Naruto muttered in mock deep thought as he stroked his chin and a vein pulsed on Milluki's forehead.

"Mama, Papa, he's done with his work now so we can kick him out straight away right?!" Kikyo hummed at her second oldest sons' question.

"It is true that Naruto's contract will have been fulfilled with Zeno-sama…" Milluki smirked in triumph at that and turned around to gloat when Killua spoke.

"But he could just stay right?" The otaku boy blinked owlishly at his younger brother's question. Seeing the reaction he continued, "It'd be bad if he died right? Since the contract with Alluka might be destroyed…" Everyone in the room knew this was true but they could also tell it wasn't entirely why Killua had mentioned it.

His expression was telling. It was clear that Killua simply wanted Naruto to stay because he enjoyed his company.

The blonde looked at his most recent friend, perhaps his first one, in shock. By now he knew Killua well enough to know that the silver haired boy was kind despite the life he had led; unlike his oldest sibling. He understood exactly what Killua meant and it made him smile warmly.

Milluki was about to retort to Killua's suggestion when Silva spoke, "That is a good point… what do you think father?"

Everyone in the room, Naruto included, turned around to look at Zeno then and the old assassin simply replied, "We should also consider what he has to say, right Naruto-chan?" said boy blinked in astonishment. Chan? Zeno had never referred to him as such in all the time that he had been here.

Realising that he was once more the attention of the room he turned around and looked at Killua who only looked back with hopeful eyes and Alluka who was reaching out to grab him from her brother's arms whilst mumbling, "Pick me up, foxy."

Alluka had never been directly told Naruto's name so she wouldn't start making requests of him and although it had just been mentioned she still preferred to call him foxy because his whiskers reminded her of the furry animals'.

He then glanced at Illumi, who still had his back turned, but had not walked out of the room yet. He realised that this meant that even Illumi, who had tor-trained him, was waiting for his answer. He also glanced at Milluki who was scowling and said, "Well hurry up brat. It's not so hard to answer it is it?"

Naruto ignored him and looked at the final three members of the room. Kikyo was looking at her husband behind that strange visor she wore whilst Silva was looking straight at him without blinking an eye. He locked gazes with him for a moment before he turned back around to Zeno, the one who had gotten him into this mess in the first place. The old man evaded his gaze but made his intentions clear, "Getting old is such a bother really… it almost feels like I've begun to develop a conscience. As the one who hired your services," Naruto snorted at this because it was more like a kidnapping, "I feel like I have to take responsibility…"

The blonde closed his eyes for a second to take in this strangely warm and pleasant atmosphere and when he replied everyone in the room pretend not to notice the moisture that had gathered in them.

"…If you'd have me… I guess it wouldn't be so bad…"

Completely contrary to his seemingly uncaring words was the biggest smile that Naruto had ever had in his life.

It made everyone in the room also smile.

Killua ran up to, in his mind, his newest brother and Alluka practically hopped into his arms. Naruto was knocked off his balance by the flying chibi and could only laugh in response as she slapped his face whilst giggling happily.

Silva glanced at his wife who stared at the scene with mixed emotions. This was not how she was taught. Showing this much emotion, laughing so carelessly… they were strange concepts to the mother of five.

However as she looked at her youngest and beloved son and the expression on his face it made something in her react. Perhaps this was not so bad…

She glanced down as Kalluto let go of her kimono and paddled over to the other children. The other toddler pulled at Killua's hoodie and the boy turned around, making Naruto see her.

"Yo Kalluto-chan. You're always too quiet ya know?" Naruto grinned at her as he adjusted Alluka's weight and patted her on top of the head. Said girl only looked down meekly at the floor.

The happy reunion was cut short as Illumi spoke though, "Hmmm… since you aren't leaving then that means that our training session today isn't cancelled!" The teenager reminded the blonde with a cheery smile as he brandished a knife from out of nowhere.

Naruto gaped at him and thrust Alluka into Killua's hand before he turned around and made a dash away from the sadistic teenager. He hopped over a thrown knife and barely got out of the door before another one hit just where his head had been.

"Illu-nii, don't throw knives around Alluka and Kalluto!" Killua barked at his older brother and Illumi replied.

"Ah sorry Kil…" he then brandished out needles that had a round end,"… this is the best choice after all right?" he chuckled menacingly as he stalked out of the room and in search of his prey. Killua only sweat dropped at his brother's antics and turned around when he heard Kalluto mumble.

"I could've caught that though…" Killua's sweat drop increased further from that statement. _'That's not the point though…' _He sighed in exasperation and grabbed Kalluto's hand as he walked out of the room in order to watch Naruto's tor-training at the hands of his maniacal brother.

Milluki only snorted at the stupidity displayed and walked off to his own. He had better things to do like making sure that there wasn't a speck of dust on his growing collection of _important_ figurines.

This left the oldest members of the family in the room. Having come out of her thoughts and not wanting to speak in front of the kids, Kikyo was the first to say anything, "Are you sure that was the wisest choice dear, Zeno-sama?"

Her husband hummed in thought whilst his father only looked up to the ceiling, also lost in his own thoughts.

"As Killua mentioned if Naruto were to die his Nen ability would most likely cease to work. That'd mean all of our effort and time spent would go to waste…" Silva shared his thoughts with his wife but paused as his father chuckled.

"Silva do you really believe that?" His shrewd father looked at him with mirth in his eyes. Kikyo looked between the two men.

Her husband sighed and continued his rationale, "…although that is a valid reason… it isn't why I allowed it." Kikyo frowned in confusion at this and waited for Silva to expand upon his logic.

"His potential is immense. It is on the level of Killua's I would say. In terms of sheer strength and speed he has already caught up to Killua and now they train together, always pushing each other to the next level. That level of growth…" here her husband looked at her, "…however more than anything I was taught to put the family first. This does not apply during jobs; a job is only a job after all, but in this case I think that having him stay would be the best for not only Killua but the family."

Kikyo considered her husband's words carefully. She fully understood what he was saying as well as she understood the flaw in his logic. The boy could have simply been given a position as a butler; it was the same case with Gotoh and even Canary. They all knew that both would be valuable to the family and had thus hired them as butlers but they didn't adopt them like they had with the blonde.

However at the same time the thought of hiring the blonde as a simple butler did not sit right with her. Wondering why, she was reminded of the image of Killua standing happily with the blonde in question along with his sisters. And then she understood why it was. If they had given him a position as a butler would her Killua still make that same expression?

Kikyo decided that this needed further consideration and was about to give it so when Zeno put in his own two cents, "He reminds me of that geezer from the Hunter's Association… being able to make friends with people easily and worming his way into their hearts… what a troublesome kid."

Both Silva and Kikyo were surprised at this. For the ancient assassin to compare that blonde boy with the legendary, and even more ancient, Chairman of the Hunter's Association who had fought and lived against Silva's great-great grandfather was one hell of a compliment.

"Silva, Kikyo… you can pass it off as an old man's ramblings but I can feel in my bones that that boy will have an important role in the future…" the ancient assassin then made his way out of the room. Silva sat down on the couch and Kikyo joined him. They sat in silence, contemplating the experienced assassins' words. Zeno had seen, experienced and felt much more of the world than either of them so it was not strange to think that he could pick up on things that they could not. If he said something like that, with an entirely serious demeanour it may very well turn out to be the case later on.

Their quiet thinking was interrupted by the screams of terror and trembling that they could feel all the way inside the mansion. Silva only sighed but was surprised at the chuckling coming from his partner.

"Well… this may not be so bad dear…" Kikyo commented to the man that she had married.

Her husband only closed his eyes and his stern expression softened as they fell back into a comfortable silence.

Which was broken again by a scream of, "WHERE DO YOU KEEP GETTING THOSE THINGS FROM ILLUMI?!"

* * *

A couple of months later, after Naruto had been trained more _thoroughly _by the sadistic puppeteer, him and Killua as well as the other siblings in the family were standing in front of Silva. The man had called them here for a very important message:

"Do not touch the Genei Ryodan."

Apparently Silva had returned from a mission to kill one of the members of said world renowned group of murderous thieves and whilst he had been successful he had also run into the leader of the group. Whilst the details weren't exactly clear, because Silva had not told them much, they apparently had a bit of a scuffle which led to this public service announcement to all of the Zoldyck children.

Personally Naruto had a hard time imagining someone being able to best a man like Silva; it wasn't even because his eyes were slitted like some dangerous beast, it was simply because the man put off this feeling that he was not to be messed with.

All of the Zoldyck siblings agreed to stay away from the thieving group of A-class bounties and afterwards Killua had told him that an assassin saying that a job was not worth the money was a huge compliment to their target.

Naruto kept that in mind because he was told that he would be sent on his own first job. Silva had given him the option to bring Killua along as it was the first time he had been given a contract but Naruto refused saying that he wanted to take care of this on his own. In Naruto's mind this was, in a way, his time to prove himself as the newest child of the Zoldyck family.

Zeno and Silva had told him that the second he had been allowed to stay but had not been hired as a butler that officially meant that he was one of their family. To this day those words still bounced around his head as well as in his heart. They were words that he was sure he would keep with him as long as he lived. Not wanting to disappoint their trust that was placed in him Naruto wanted to make them proud to have adopted him.

It looked like those gruelling training sessions with Illumi were finally going to pay off. Illumi called them training whilst Naruto called them torture but it was in fact neither – it was simply a way for Naruto to get experience. Having been the one that had joined the family the latest, although he wasn't the youngest, Naruto had the least fighting experience out of all the siblings who actively took jobs. In other words he was miles behind Killua and Illumi because Milluki did not go outside, _like ever_, and Kalluto and Alluka were too young to take jobs.

So Illumi had sparred with him in order to give him combat experience. However that was not the only thing they did. Illumi had also made him run through trap and obstacle courses, in order to improve his reflexes, agility and speed, survive in the vast plot of land that the Zoldycks owned for an entire _month_ with nothing but the clothes on his back as Illumi _and _Mike hunted him down in order to improve his use of Zetsu and general stealth, as well as try to catch Killua in a enormous game of hide and seek which encompassed the entire estate. The last one was done in order to make him _and_ Killua improve their use of Zetsu and general stealth as well as his tracking abilities.

It had also been the most fun because it basically felt like they were playing around but at the same time they were improving by leaps and bounds. After all of this Naruto felt pretty confident in his ability to complete a simple mission.

Unbeknownst to him however, whilst the mission would be a success, it would also be one hell of a roller coaster.

* * *

Naruto had been given a mission to kill a politician. He wasn't just any politician either; the man was the leader of the political party that was winning the general elections of a neighbouring country in the republic of Padokea.

Who had ordered the hit on him you ask? Was it a rival party leader that wanted to get rid of the competition?

Nope; it was the man's second in command.

Naruto was half tempted to kill his douchebag of an employer instead but knowing how much this mission meant he decided he would see it through to the end.

The blonde had taken an air blimp from the nearest airport to Kukuroo Mountain to the city that his target was residing in, Ciónnasu, and had arrived there on a Monday morning. He had packed lightly, only bringing a couple dozen chocolate milk cartons, his necklace and a few spare clothes.

Right now he was wearing a black hoodie with black trousers that were quite flexible and simple black trainers. His choice of all black was most definitely not because he thought that assassins wore all black and lurked in the shadows. Silva had told him that description befitted ninjas from the island country of Jappon better but since Naruto liked the all black attire anyways he had decided to keep it.

He disembarked and moved toward the bag collection area when he heard someone ask him, "Hey do you know where the baggage collection is?" Naruto went to reply that he was headed there at the moment but the words got stuck in his throat when he saw who it was that asked him.

"K-Killua!?" The blonde stared at him in shock. His friend only replied with the same surprise although it was obviously fake from his dry facial expression,

"Ah Naruto! What a coincidence, what are you doing here?" Killua questioned like he didn't already know. He had heard that Naruto had taken a mission by himself so he had simply taken a mission that was in the same city. When his father had stared at him, obviously knowing what he intended, Killua had only stared back with his best poker face, completely blank and nonchalant. He had picked this up from his friend, whom whenever something went wrong would simply play it off as not that important either in order to mess with people or simply because he did not care.

On the contrary Killua cared very much; the mission Naruto had taken was a bit of a heavy one for his debut as an assassin so Killua had decided to come along and make sure that he did not get in over his head. There was also the fact that although Naruto had learned the basics of hunting and avoid being hunted from Illumi it was a completely different matter to actually put those skills into use.

Besides, after all the blonde had done for Alluka coming with him on a job to show him the ropes was the very least Killua could do.

He walked off and heard Naruto catch up to him. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of explaining to Naruto his purpose for being here he decided to start teaching him a couple of things, "You never discuss job details in public; always make sure you've got somewhere safe and out of range from any eavesdroppers first." Killua glanced at his friend and saw that Naruto had an open mouth like an 'O'. The blonde closed it shut with a click and fell into step with his younger friend. A couple of minutes later they picked up their baggage, which for Killua was a yellow skateboard and a blue backpack, whilst for Naruto was his trusty rucksack stuffed full of chocolaty goodness.

They made their way out of the airport and instead of catching a taxi they instead walked towards a nearby park. On the way there Naruto had noticed that something was strange…

Well more like there were strange people in the crowd walking around, some sitting in benches, others at coffee shops. The thing that they all had in common was that they felt out of place to Naruto, it almost seemed like they were on the lookout for something or someone. This was enough for him to switch into alert mode but it was shot down by Killua immediately though, "Don't tense up. That's what they're looking for. Act natural instead, more like me." Naruto blinked in surprise at the advice. The people that he got an odd feeling from were like… spies or perhaps guards then?

Why though? They were simply walking through a side street, one which did not look of any particular importance whatsoever. Sure there was still quite a bit of people walking along with them but to Naruto it simply seemed like they were only going this way because it connected to a main street at the end. Glancing at his friend who was casually walking along and whistling to some tune a sudden thought crossed through his mind.

The fact that there were people on the lookout for people acting tense or suspicious immediately implied that, unlike at a first glance, this seemingly dull and normal side street held some importance other than leading onto a main street.

He also realised that because of Killua's advice the younger boy was already aware of this fact. This was the difference between them in terms of actual real life mission experience and it showed by an immense amount. Deciding to follow his friend's advice he relaxed his shoulders and looked around, pretending to be a curious kid full of wonder. He would exclaim in excitement to Killua whenever he saw something interesting and would immediately fire off a bunch of questions.

Killua realised what he was doing and inwardly he was impressed. Naruto was pretending to be awe inspired from their surroundings, looking everywhere rapidly, but what he was really doing was checking where else he got the feeling that he was being watched from. This way he could confirm where possible enemies were whilst keeping up their cover.

No wonder his gramps had said the blonde had talent; he had immediately adjusted to the situation and improvised both a cover up as well as a scouting tactic within seconds.

Killua joined in the fake excited talk to make their acting more believable and they eventually veered off the side street and towards a nearby, small park. They both sat down and Naruto got out two cartons of chocolate milk and tossed one to Killua. The silver haired boy caught it and they both acted like they were taking a break from all their walking but it was really because Killua could feel that there were a lot less eyes on them at the moment and they seemed too far away from them to hear what they were saying. Killua also made sure to have Naruto's back facing them and had sat himself directly in front of the blonde in an angle that their watchers wouldn't be able to read their lips.

This was all done in a completely casual and natural manner, so much so that Naruto only realised the strategic advantage only seconds after they had gotten into position.

Killua sipped his chocolate milk and began the conversation, "At the airport we were being watched too; I guess there were too many people for you to pinpoint them."

"To be honest I didn't notice it at all." The blonde rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"That's no good. The second you leave the house the job begins and it only ends the moment you step back into Zoldyck property Naruto." The silver haired genius lectured his older friend like he was scolding a younger sibling. In terms of assassinations Naruto was his junior so the blonde did not mind the lecturing he was being given.

"Well I guess this is your first job so it's not really your fault. Anyways I'm only here because I have a job too, so it's just a coincidence." Killua explained casually but Naruto was not inclined to believe him. Not after that situation back there.

"Righttttt… so what's your job exactly?" the blonde questioned his friend with a suspicious expression. Killua only turned around and mumbled, "Secret." Which just made Naruto deadpan at him. He was clearly here to watch over him.

Well Killua had possibly saved his ass back there so Naruto wasn't going to complain. However…

"Killua, I appreciate you looking out for me but I want to do this on my own." the blonde said with the utmost serious expression on his face, his eyes reflecting the conviction behind his words.

His friend only gave him an annoyed expression and replied, "Like I said I didn't come here just to help you; I've got my own job too!" Naruto only sighed and smiled at his friend. He reached forward and patted the top of his head like you would to a younger sibling.

"Ah you're such a good little bro Killua." Naruto nodded his head with a mock serious expression and Killua replied by swatting his hand away from his head.

"Whatever!" the silver haired genius huffed and turned away from the teasing he was being given, a slight blush covering his cheeks.

"So anyways there's something definitely special about that street right?" Naruto moved on with the topic of conversation when he didn't feel any more eyes on him. They were certainly persistent watchers but it looked like they had finally given up after seeing what looked like two children just being children.

How wrong they were.

"Yep, I'd say that it's connected to the mafia but those guys were actually trying to be subtle. Had it been the mafia they wouldn't have bothered with subtlety and would instead flaunt their power because of their connections. So it's probably something of big importance that doesn't want to get too much attention but can't afford to not have any precautionary measures set up just in case." Naruto nodded along to the astute observations his friend had made. It made sense; if they were being careful it meant there was something to be careful about.

Naruto then narrowed his eyes at his friend as a sudden thought crossed his mind.

"Killua…" said boy looked over at Naruto and froze at the suspicious glare he was being give, "…that side street wouldn't happen to have _anything _to do with my job would it?"

Killua sipped his chocolate milk in reply and tried his best to keep a completely neutral expression, "Who knows?"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he got his confirmation. Whenever Killua had something to hide he would put on this poker face. In a way it was a giveaway that the boy was actually keeping something from you although if you had no idea what it was it would be incredibly hard to guess from his expression alone.

"…That's a meeting or hiding place for my target isn't it?" Naruto deduced with a dry expression. His friend only sipped away on his chocolate milk without any giveaways. Even if he didn't confirm it he also didn't deny it so Naruto was pretty damn sure by this point.

He sighed in exasperation. It was heart-warming in a way that his little bro was looking out for him in this way but he also wanted to do this on his own dammit!

"Alright Killua, I can tell that you're not going to go away until the job is done are you?" His younger friend only continued to stare with a blank face although Naruto could see that there was mischief tinkling in his eyes.

"Since you're not and it'll be a pain in the ass to make you here's what we're gonna do. From now on I'm going to take the reins. Deal?"

Killua stopped sipping his chocolate milk for a second to mutter, "Deal." And shook the blonde's hand. Naruto then nodded in satisfaction and finished his carton of chocolate goodiness. Now that he was all juiced up it was time to get his head in the game and begin taking this seriously. From their short walk Naruto had noticed that not only were there watchers on the ground, there were also some on the rooftops. He had located half a dozen on the surrounding buildings when he was putting that gobsmacked act back then.

"There were six on the roofs; two on the North East buildings, three were spread out between the South East and South buildings, two were on the North West and another one on the East."

"I counted that many too, what do you think it means?" Killua replied to Naruto's statement.

The blonde looked down in thought for a moment before replying, "The majority of them were between the South East and the East so that means that's most likely where the target is right? It would make sense to have the most personnel near to who you're protecting. There's also the fact that on the ground the bigger concentration of people on the lookout was at the start of the street, which is on the South East isn't it?" Naruto both analysed and shared his thoughts on the situation to his accomplice on this mission.

Killua nodded along at the logic which was pretty sound.

"But… Something feels weird though…" Naruto muttered with a frown.

"What?" Killua questioned with a curious look.

"Well I'm just starting out with this whole assassin business but I still noticed that people were on the lookout. Doesn't that mean that they're really incompetent? Since the target is a big shot there's no way he would hire amateurs to protect him would he?" Naruto shared his thoughts with his partner in crime who agreed to an extent.

'_The reason you spotted them isn't necessarily just because they're bad; that just means you're that good…but he does have a point. Those guys were being way too obvious.'_

"So what do you think it means?" Killua prodded Naruto along. He had a pretty good guess of what it meant but this was Naruto's mission so he had to figure some things out for himself.

"Hmmm…" the blonde hummed, deep in thought. He racked his head with any possible thoughts when a scene jumped to his head.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Naruto stalked around the dense forest, his footsteps being as quiet as possible. Illumi and Mike were currently hunting him down but before the "game" had started Illumi had told him that somewhere in the forest there were supplies. Naruto had then deduced that his objective was to hide from Illumi and Mike and get to those supplies so he could survive for the month._

_He had already dunked himself in the river in order to wash away his scent so Mike couldn't track him down that easily and he was constantly using Zetsu so Illumi wouldn't feel his aura. It was also of course in order to help him feel out for Illumi's aura better since you were more sensitive to people's auras in a state of Zetsu._

_He hid behind some dense foliage and peeked out and he would have exclaimed out loud in happiness if he hadn't almost been eaten by Mike because he was being too loud beforehand._

_Right in the clearing in front of him were dozens of rucksacks, strangely like his own, all filled to the brim. Some were on top of branches, up in the trees, whilst others were on top of fallen logs. Either way Naruto had practically found heaven. _

_So caught up in his excitement Naruto slowly made his way to the heaven sent goodies before he was snatched up by the scruff of his shirt. He froze as he could feel a hot and moist breath tickle his neck and almost robotically he turned his head around to stare into the big and lifeless eyes of Mike._

_A scream was heard through the massive forest, so loud that it managed to reach the Zoldyck mansion._

"_The heck was that?" Killua looked up from the drawing that he was helping Alluka complete. In it were her, him and their newest friend Naruto. Alluka was in the middle whilst Naruto patted her head and Killua held a peace sign. _

_Shrugging Killua turned around to complete the drawing, eager to show it to Naruto after he came back from whatever errand he had been sent on._

_Flashback end._

* * *

Coming out of his memories Naruto believed he had his answer.

"It's definitely a trap right?" the blonde spoke to his friend after a long silence.

"What makes you say that?" Killua challenged his friend's rationale.

"Well Illumi did something similar," here he shuddered, "he dangled the goal in front of me in a really obvious manner to lure me out and catch me. This way he didn't have to hunt me, I came straight to him!" The blonde concluded whilst smacking his fist onto an open palm.

This was bait; the "amateurs" were being obvious on purpose. Any person with common sense would assume that if there were people on the lookout near a place it meant they were protecting it. They used that thought process to lure out less clever potential threats. Naruto guessed that his target was actually somewhere else entirely; even if the obvious lookouts were bait if someone bit that bait but ended up being strong enough to take them out after being ambushed it meant that his/her target was being practically handed on a silver platter.

"I don't even think the target is here. This whole thing is a… Whaddya call it again?" Naruto rubbed his chin in thought as he shared his assumption with his senior in the field of assassinations.

'_Correct, I'm impressed.' _Killua nodded along with Naruto's logic in agreement and decided to share a fact he was aware of.

"A red herring. You remember how I mentioned that there were people watching in the airport too? We walked right past one and I heard his ear com." Naruto's eyebrows rose to his hairline. Killua had been able to hear something like that in a loud place like that? It was definitely bordering on inhuman but after the things Naruto had seen and done he figured it wasn't exactly impossible.

"What did you hear?" The blonde questioned curiously.

"I heard that the objective had been moved to point B. No idea where that is though…" Killua trailed off. This was becoming annoying. These guys were clearly organised and knew what they were doing. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he hadn't come along to watch over Naruto. Most likely the blonde would've attacked the bait which made Killua glad he had come.

Not because he was worried for Naruto's safety mind you; he was more worried about the massive commotion that would undoubtedly happen when Naruto started his assault. After learning Nen Killua and Naruto had noticed that they could accurately judge someone's strength better now; Killua's readings were even more accurate because he had more experience than Naruto so he could tell that Naruto wouldn't have had too much trouble with the guards stationed there as long as he fought smartly, which the blonde was ought to do after being drilled into by Illumi for his obvious fighting tactics.

The silver haired genius had later been informed that because of Naruto's lack of tactics whatsoever he had been dumped in the Zoldyck property and had to survive both Illumi and Mike hunting him down. He had also later realised that the screams he heard were indeed from his friend being tor-trained by his older sibling.

"…Well if they're laying bait so nicely we should just go ahead and bite it…" The blonde trailed off as a devilish smirk began growing on his face.

Killua looked at him warily and asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Naruto started chuckling.

* * *

The plan that Naruto had devised was incredibly simple.

Killua would be their own bait and would stealthily assault the building that the most lookouts were around, which they had confirmed to be a fancy hotel. In the meanwhile Naruto would take care of the sentry's and their goal would be to find any info that pointed out where their target would be. Normally Killua would never have had agreed to this plan but Naruto had told him that before coming to this city he had done some research; their target was scheduled to catch a flight in two days so they couldn't afford to waste too much time otherwise they would lose him.

Carrying out the assassination in the airport was out of the question; he would be most likely _heavily _guarded and because he was famous it meant that pretty much everyone would be paying attention to him. This made killing him discretely almost impossible at the time.

'_Not that this is discreet mind you...' _Not wanting to make Naruto do things his way Killua had gone with his plan but had added his own suggestion. Instead of immediately carrying out their plan they would do some reconnaissance beforehand in the days leading up to their target taking his flight. Naruto had agreed and they decided to split up and keep in contact with their phones, courtesy of Killua. The blonde had also said that if their target was meant to catch a flight in two days he would most likely want to stay close to the airport, preferably not at a hotel because it would attract attention. This meant that he was most likely staying at some sort of safe house nearby.

They had obtained a map of the city easily enough and had decided to confirm some of their suspicions, "Like we thought, that hotel where the 'bait' lookouts are is the closest one to the airport. Around it there are about thirty of them. It'd take too long to check each one out and since your assumption sounds pretty sound this means that we don't even need to." The silver haired child assassin pointed out the hotels and explained his thought process.

Naruto hummed in thought at that. If his target wasn't staying in a hotel then where would he be? Assuming of course that Naruto was even right in this, he hadn't had a very good start to this whole operation of course.

"Don't," Killua blurted out suddenly and Naruto looked up at him in confusion. The silver haired assassin then continued, "you can't doubt yourself like that. If your guess is wrong then it means we'll fail but there's also the chance that it's right. I'd say that it's about 50-50 but it's the best shot we have now. If we fail then that just means we'll have to chase him down." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows at the last bit and spoke.

"If we fail doesn't that mean they'll be ready next time? Not to mention that this guy would probably go into hiding or somewhere _really _guarded. How would we get him then?" Killua nodded at the logic but then revealed a fact to Naruto.

"Zoldyck members don't fail missions. If we aren't successful in the first attempt, which is unusual, we keep at it until we get our prey. If this time we don't get him because we weren't astute or skilled enough and he goes into hiding then that's for us to deal with. It's the consequence of not being good enough to kill him on the first attempt." The silver haired child stared into Naruto's eyes with a completely serious look. Naruto then realised that this was what it truly meant to be a Zoldyck assassin; to take a mission and see it through to the end no matter how long it took because they were pros and that was what pros did. Right now Naruto was representing a lineage of professionals that had made the family what it was through their deeds and his actions would reflect on that exact family that had taken him in. It was then that he decided that he would get his target without bringing shame to the family – no to _his _family.

He also understood from the look in Killua's eyes that this entire time that Killua took jobs he also had this enormous pressure on his back that Naruto was feeling at the moment and his respect for his little bro increased. He vowed he was going to succeed, for the family and for Killua too because right now Naruto was leading this mission which meant that Killua was under his care; if anything were to happen to him because of Naruto's plan it would be his fault.

"Okay…" Naruto agreed and looked back down at the map. He searched for a second when something caught his eye, there was another hotel, one that Killua had not pointed out which was fairly close to the airport. Naruto shared this with Killua and the boy replied that on his scouting earlier he hadn't seen a hotel there, only a construction site.

They both looked at each other in sudden realisation. It was fairly close to the airport, there was no one there because it was a construction site and according Killua when he had been scouting said construction site looked abandoned by what he had seen and most and foremost it was the last place people would look.

Who would think a candidate to being the president to a country would be hiding in an abandoned construction site after all?

Naruto voiced their thoughts, "Most likely here right?" Killua nodded in agreement. He hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary there either; this meant that they were either wrong or…

Their enemies were more crafty and skilled than they had thought.

However there was something else bothering Naruto, it had been ever since the fiasco with the side street.

"Killua why would he be this paranoid?" Naruto asked as his friend rolled up their map. They began hopping from roof to roof towards the old construction site. Their strategy meeting had been held at a rooftop fairly far away from the bait hotel. Far away enough that no one was spying on them to be sure. They had met up after the both of them had walked around the nearby area, in a radius of approximately 3 Km in all directions from the airport. They had been strategizing at a roof top of some condos about half of that distance away from both the airport and the bait hotel so it was pretty safe. They also had confirmed that there weren't any spotters on the roofs nearby of this area and continued on the lookout for any as they moved closer to their target.

Killua hummed at the question as they made their way towards their target, "Well… maybe he has an inkling that someone is after his life? Or maybe he's hiding for an entire different reason; there are too many possibilities to think of. First and foremost we should approach this carefully; we can't get too close to the place because that would raise suspicion. There's a plaza right in front of it though so we can walk around and pretend we're just little kids like we did back then."

Naruto nodded in agreement, there were too many reasons. This guy was running to be the president; he could be hiding from pretty much anything at the moment.

About five hundred metres away from the ruined construction site they stopped and made their way to street level. Killua had not been able to see any spotters on the roofs previously but this did not mean that there weren't any around. Having two sets of eyes this time would more than likely alter the results of their scouting.

Neither Killua nor Naruto felt any eyes on them as soon as they entered the street that the construction site was on. So they continued walking and assumed their cover of being two excited little kids. They were both very good at acting but some part of them was genuinely enjoying their time together, even if the mission was challenging and there was a chance of them getting into nasty fights if everything went incredibly wrong the thrill of the challenge made their souls resonate in a trembling, half scared, half excited frenzy. This state of being, of not knowing if they were right in front of the target's hideout and if at this very moment they were being watched, if they would be attacked at any moment if they made some kind of move made their awareness and concentration levels spike to places never reached before.

And at that exact moment they both felt it. It was only a pinprick; a miniscule feeling of heat hitting the back of their necks that in any other situation or circumstances they would not have paid any mind to but with their honed senses they both zoomed in on it.

There were eyes on them. In the middle of the crowd, with people passing by constantly, children laughing with their parents, siblings running around, couples holding hands and co-workers getting lunch at the cafes they both felt the tiniest feeling, the feeling of uncomfortableness that made them want to look around but they both controlled it furiously. If they looked around now then whoever it was would definitely notice.

A bead of cold sweat, which could easily be passed off from being caused by the sun, slowly rolled down the side of their face as a possibility came into mind.

It was possible that whoever was watching them had slacked off on purpose, in order to see whether the two would react and to smoke them out.

They had used these types of tactics before to bait people out.

Instead of making them scared it only steeled their resolve now. In both of their minds there was no doubt about; their target was here and as assassins they had an obligation to fulfil their duty.

So they waited. As they chatted animatedly, sat down in an outdoor café and ordered delicious smoothies, went into a candy store and bought chocolate balls and ate them by a fountain in a nearby plaza they waited.

Their waiting paid off. Naruto was the first to notice because his sixth sense went off. It was a little trickle, a wisp that passed by his head but it was enough. He had located where it was coming from. Whoever it was had been watching them zealously. They did not know why they had been watching them with such intensity but it didn't matter because it looked like they had gotten impatient and had let a tiny little bit of killing intent escape.

Killua muttered to Naruto then, "Could be another trap." The blonde nodded and continued with what he was saying to his friend in order to keep up their cover.

It was possible but it had backfired for the most part. Now that Naruto's and Killua's antennae were so honed even a tiny bit of bloodlust would let them hone in with incredible accuracy. The problem now was how they were going to proceed. Should they move closer to where it was coming from whilst keeping their act and hope that whoever it was bought it enough that he didn't get suspicious or should they leave the area in order to throw them off but circle around and ambush them?

No the second option wouldn't work; if they left immediately after the enemy sent bloodlust at them then they would get suspicious. The best course of action would be to dally around for a little longer in order to make it seem as if they hadn't picked up on anything and then leave, maybe look at their map and point out another point of interest and make it seem as if they were going to head there next? Yeah that coul-

The presence disappeared. Entirely. And so did the bloodlust. But in its place a sense of foreboding settled firmly on their shoulders.

In hindsight Naruto did not know how he was able to take out the map without his hands being a trembling mess. However he was able to. He looked Killua straight in the eye and the boy understood to follow his lead at the moment.

They looked down at the map and acted out Naruto's scenario, pointing out multiple spots and chatting vividly about the things they could do. The foreboding feeling then vanished but instead of making them relax it only did the opposite; did that now mean that the enemy had enough screwing around and had decided to seriously target them now? If that was the case then it'd be likely for them to be attacked any second no-

At once that thought process was completely shattered as two arms, slim in nature, wrapped around their shoulders from behind. Before either Naruto or Killua could register what was happening a voice uttered quietly in the midst of the noise of the crowd, but it was as loud as a clap of thunder to them.

"Make a scene and I'll kill you." Both Killua and Naruto froze. It felt as if their entire existence had been frozen, suspended in a terrifying place between life and death. The only reason they did not react in any way was because an ice cold, numbing fear had claimed their entire bodies. Taking this as a sign of their obedience their impromptu captor pushed them along and continued with her instructions.

"Keep walking and pretend you know me." This jutted a portion of their brain out of the mind numbing fear that had been induced into them and as one both Killua and Naruto turned their heads to look at the person that had _completely_ avoided their detection skills, which had been at their fullest because of their more honed than usual sensing antennae, and had been stealthy enough to get completely within their guards and _actually wrap her arms around their shoulders as if they weren't on full alert._

It was a teenager, wearing a white kimono top with a black band tied around the front. She had shorts and pink leg warmers with what appeared to be tabi boots and zōri, with her hair, an unusual pink, flowing down to just above her shoulders. The most striking feature were her eyes however; an aloof and calculating blue that were _daring _them to try anything.

Killua found his voice first, "Y-Yo, how did you find us…?"

'_How the hell did you get so close!?'_

The stranger looked at him for another second before she replied.

"You guys aren't exactly very subtle… walking around in plain sight, did you think you'd get away from me? I just had a feeling you'd be here…"

'_You were being obvious to me whilst probing around for their presence.'_

Naruto swallowed the heavy block that had gotten stuck in his throat and spoke.

"Ah I see… We're sorry for running away."

'_What the hell do you want?'_

"Hmph that's not good enough. You're coming with me misters, you're both in _big trouble._"

'_No more questions now follow me.'_

And with that she started guiding them around the crowd, occasionally speaking to them. Instinctively both Killua and Naruto realised that the small talk they just had was to seem as if they knew each other and to not attract attention from any passers-by as well as anyone else that could be watching.

As she led them to an alleyway their heartbeats started rising rapidly, echoing around their heads as with each step they came closer to the desert alley. Was she guiding them there so she could kill them? After all killing two children in the middle of the day where everyone could see was not the best idea but in a desert alley where she could probably even hide their bodies in dumpsters it was bett-

"First things first; I'm impressed you two didn't have a breakdown when I caught you." She spoke as she let go of their shoulders. Not feeling the overwhelming pressure that had been weighting them down they both leaped as far away from her as possible. They would've tried to escape but it was a dead end and both Naruto and Killua had calculated that it would take approximately four seconds for them to jump over the wall. Considering how skilled their assaulter was that was probably plenty of time for her to catch them both.

'_Hoh… they have good reflexes; only wasted half a second before jumping as far away as possible in one go… like I thought these kids aren't bad. Still rookies though…'_

Killua desperately tried to calm his heart rate down as Illumi's voice echoed around in his head, telling him to run away, that the opponent was too much for him. Killua did his best to ignore it because if he ran that would mean he would leave Naruto behind. The silver haired child would not do that to his newest friend.

Instead he spoke the question that was bouncing in their heads, "Are you friend or foe?" Both Naruto and Killua tensed their muscles like stretched out steel cables as their aura came to life around them.

The stranger raised an eyebrow at this and pointed behind her, "You might wanna put it away; the guy who was watching you two might feel it." Killua and Naruto swallowed dry. This girl had even felt that they were being watched. Then Naruto's eyes widened further as he realised where she was pointing, it was exactly where he had felt the eyes on them!

He glanced at Killua. Now they had a choice to make, putting away their aura so the person watching them wouldn't feel them or keeping it out in order to combat this girl.

"It's impossible so don't even think about it. The moment you take a single step I'll take you both out. I don't necessarily want to harm you two; the only reason I approached you was because I had some questions. It's rare to see such young Nen users after all." Killua was not really listening at this point. After she had said that a step would mean death his entire focus was on how he could escape and get as far away as possible from this _monster _that was in front of them. He started panicking, his breath being drawn and let out in smaller, quicker bursts as the first signs of hysteria began settling in. He would have completely spiralled into a state of panic, Illumi's voice ringing in his ears now, until Naruto's voice cut through the silence that had enveloped the three individuals in the alley.

"Killua, she's telling the truth." The silver haired child felt the air get knocked out of him at those words. He knew that Naruto was not talking about the first couple of phrases she had said, because there was absolutely no need to confirm the fact that she could effortlessly beat them. He was instead then speaking about the fact that she only had intentions to ask them questions as long as they did not make an offensive move.

The feeling slowly began to crawl back into his limbs as the fog inside his head began lifting. He glanced at Naruto, whose aura output had gone down to nearly nothing now. A part of his mind screamed at him still, to run away, to scream at Naruto, asking him what the hell he was doing but a bigger, growing part spoke louder. It told him to trust his friend.

That decision saved his life.

"What did you want to know?" Naruto stared her straight in the eye as he spoke, all the whilst listening as closely to his sixth sense as possible. At the moment there was not even a bit of malice being directed at them from this person, not even when she had said that she would take them out if they made a move. A part of Naruto's brain recognized that was how she had managed to sneak up on Naruto without his sixth sense screaming at him. It was because, similar to Mike, she did not act with malicious intent.

This did not, in any way, shape or form, make her less dangerous. It simply meant that she could kill them as if she was taking a stroll through the park or reading a dull book, without any effort or change of expression whatsoever. It immediately reminded him of his first encounter with Zeno and it was because of this that Naruto decided to answer her questions instead of putting up a fight, because the only other person he had ever gotten this much of a feeling that his entire existence, if he would put up a fight, did not really matter was from said old man and the ancient assassin was someone that Naruto had the utmost respect for because he could act as if anything was a coffee break and still be overwhelmingly dangerous, _because he was that skilled._

In hindsight he would realise that his comparison of this teenager with Zeno was not fair; the old man was years more dangerous as she was but at the moment Zeno was the strongest person Naruto knew of and this girl was the strongest person that he had encountered that he did not know and did not know of their intentions so his brain immediately made that jump.

"Firstly… who trained you in Nen?" said teenager began as she stared into Naruto's eyes, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that he could tell her intentions were genuine.

"We can't say that." Killua replied. He was aware that they weren't really in a position to be secretive as she clearly held the upper hand but Killua was not about to sell out his family. A part of his brain recognized that even if they did tell her and she decided to challenge the Zoldyck family after killing them she would most likely not be able to actually kill any of the family members. Now that he had calmed down he could feel that in terms of strength whilst she was still incomparably stronger than them she was most likely on Illumi's level, still nowhere near his dad's or Zeno's level of strength.

The biggest part however as to why he didn't tell her was because his instincts were screaming at him not to. Those same instincts had previously kept him alive so he decided to follow them.

It was the correct decision again. Had he told the teenager who had trained them, the Zoldyck family, they would've been killed on the spot.

"Well I guess it doesn't really matter… why were you two scoping out that construction site?" The pink haired girl continued on with her line of questioning without skipping a beat. This time Naruto replied though.

"Part of our job." His answer was curt and tight lipped but it was not a lie; it just left a lot of details out. The pink haired girl stared at them for a moment longer and for a moment they thought their luck had run out.

"I see then. A word of advice; there's a Nen user guarding that place." She pointed back to where Killua and Naruto had been watched from. Both boys glanced at each other for a second as they considered her words. Was she lying? It was unlikely; if her intention was to trick them then why would she warn them of danger? In fact if she had any harmful intentions she would've carried them out by now. This train of logic led Killua and Naruto to believe her words.

"It was the person watching us right?" Naruto fired off a question of his own and waited anxiously for her reaction. They were both treating her as if she was a live bomb; one wrong step and everything could go to hell.

"Yeah. A second before I approached you two he stopped though. That was some acting; not bad… but he might've noticed us speaking." The kimono wearing teen commented to them and a thought crossed through her head, maybe she should ask them to join? There was a free space now after all…

It was shot down as she saw their stances. They were both covering each other's blind spots and whilst earlier the silver haired one had almost run away he was now looking her straight in the eye with as much fire as the blonde one. This meant that they wouldn't just abandon one another. It was a shame; it wasn't every day you ran into skilled and young Nen users like these. The thought of simply taking them with her did cross her mind but she quickly shot that down too because it simply wasn't her style.

"Thanks I guess… but are you a friend or foe?" Naruto repeated Killua's earlier question. Just because she hadn't attacked by now did not mean she wouldn't and she never said that she would let them go after they answered her questions.

'_He's a sharp kid. Throughout this entire conversation he hasn't let his guard down even for a second and he recognized that just because they answered my questions it didn't mean I would let them go…' _

"…I'm neither. I was just curious is all and I still am, even knowing that there's a Nen user in there you're still going to go?" She fired off her own question after answering theirs'. Naruto frowned at her answer but glanced at his friend. Their eyes locked and they both knew what the answer to that was.

"Yeah. It's our job so we're going to see it through." The blonde replied.

"You got that right." Killua confirmed.

"I see… a word of advice then: there are other guards but they won't really be a problem. Focus instead on the Nen user. He's a Conjurer so he needs a moment to exercise his imagination and manifest his ability. You should use that to take him out." With that said she turned around and began walking out of the alleyway but before she could Killua fired off a question at her.

"How do you know that?" The silver haired child had his eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the piece of info. Zeno had lectured to both of them that a Nen user's ability was something that they protected the identity of at all costs. In a Nen battle having your ability be an unknown could be an immense boom; it could be the difference between victory and defeat. And knowing your opponent's ability was an even bigger boom; it made all sorts of strategies and forward planning possible and could make victory incredibly easy.

How then did this girl know what their opponents', an opponent that they had not even met mind you, Nen ability was?

"It doesn't matter. You can follow or ignore that, up to you. Since I've gotten my curiosity satisfied I'm leaving. By the way don't follow me or I'll assume you want to fight." She called out as she continued walking away but was stopped by Naruto's question next.

"Who are you?" The blonde called out, cutting off any exclamation of annoyance Killua could make at the teen's casual attitude. She stopped with her back still turned to them and looked up to a corner of the side of a building. Following her gaze Naruto's eyes landed on a web and it was then that she replied.

"A Spider." At that moment the entire world went silent. Or perhaps the shock was so big that they had gone deaf? Killua fell down on his ass because his legs had gone entirely numb and Naruto could only stare at an open mouth at the smirk the teen was giving them. He tried speaking a couple of times but was cut off by the pink haired spiders' question.

"What are your names?" She stared at them with those same aloof eyes but this time there was a hint of amusement in them.

"N-Naruto."

"…Killua."

"I see… I'm Machi. You kids aren't bad for your age in terms of Nen but you still have miles to go. The next time we meet you better be able to defend yourselves better."

Neither Killua nor Naruto questioned how she knew they would meet again. They were still reeling from the fact that they had just been talking to a member of the infamous, murderous phantom troupe, the exact group that Killua's father had warned them to stay away from.

It was because of this shock that they had only told her their first names and not their full names instead. It was a mixture between that and sheer dumb luck that they didn't mention the fact that they were assassins from the Zoldyck family, the same family that that man had been from, the man who had fought Chrollo and killed one of their members. Whilst Machi was probably the coldest member, which is why she wouldn't have retaliated because they were from the family of the assassin that had killed one of their members she might have lifted a hand at them because said assassin had fought Chrollo, her leader.

Both Killua and Naruto came to rest on the ground after the never wracking exchange. Killua was personally shaken; this had probably been his closest encounter with death yet. Being completely at someone's mercy like that… it was a terrifying feeling. He quietly contemplated the events that had transpired. He wasn't too sure how long they had stayed that way until Naruto spoke.

"Killua… let's go." The silver haired child looked up and saw that his friend was staring at him, his eyes burning with an even deeper flame of conviction. Killua could not understand. How was he still so raring to go after that? Did he not realise that even after all they had learned there were still people incomparably stronger than them? What if the Nen user guarding their target was like that too? A complete monster that they couldn't hope to handle a candle to?

"Killua, it's true that she could've killed us at any time. But she didn't. As long as we're alive there'll be more chances to get stronger, to go further. Right now… right now I feel like if we back away from this we'll lose something important. So let's go," Naruto stood up and Killua stared at his friend in wonder, where did he get this conviction and will from? The blonde came over to where Killua had flopped down and offered him a hand to get up, "we still have something to do right?"

The silver haired child stared at the hand extended to him and his dad's voice rung in his head.

"_Our most important job is to wait. You must wait until the right time. Making your move carelessly and revealing your abilities is the worst thing you can do. So you must wait."_

He considered his dad's words and looked at the hand offered to him. Slowly he reached up and grabbed it firmly, hoisting himself up on his feet a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He looked back into Naruto's eyes and this time instead of an insecure look there was fire in his eyes.

They were ready.

* * *

As Machi walked away from the vicinity where she had approached those two kids a big part of her questioned her actions. Whilst it was true that she had been curious, she didn't think she was curious enough to actually go up and interact with them. What was it exactly that had made her do that? Struggling to find an answer the best she could come up with was 'just because'. She had done that just because she wanted to. There wasn't really a logical reason she should've concerned herself with them; even if they were skilled for their age, even knowing Nen, which was curious, it still did not feel like a substantial enough reason to explain her actions.

What bothered her the most though was the fact that she had given them that advice. That was definitely not how she was like. It was almost as if she cared whether they succeeded in their mission or not. The only reason she knew of the Nen user's Nen ability was because the dolt of a man had been exercising it within his hideout. Curious as to what was putting off that aura Machi had checked the place out, where a man with a fancy suit was waiting for something, and seen his ability but had decided to not bother fighting him since he wasn't worth the effort.

Immediately a part of her brain recognized that he should be a good match for those two boys and she frowned.

Why did she care?

In fact why did she even care about what she had done? She was probably never going to see those two again; the world was that big. Even as she thought this she remembered her words.

"_The next time we meet you better be able to defend yourselves." _

Why had she said that then? She did not know a reasonable, logical answer to that question. But her intuition answered it perfectly. It was because, even if it took a decade, she knew that they would cross paths again.

And a small part of her was pleased at that fact.

* * *

Naruto and Killua made their way out of the alley by jumping up to the roof. After reaching it they both paused and spread their senses as far as possible. Having detected him once they could recognize the Nen user's presence. It was especially easy if said person had not moved an inch from his spot.

They had decided to follow Machi's advice. They were going to circle around and ambush this Nen user. The ideal scenario would be one where the person did not even have time to react and they could take him out before he could counter.

They both did not believe that would happen though. Realistically they were going to get into a fight. But they knew somewhat of their opponent's ability so it wasn't all in vain. Naruto smacked his forehead as he realised that if Machi knew that their opponent was a Conjurer then there was also a chance that she knew what their ability was; they should've asked her!

Sharing this fact with his little bro Naruto sighed despondently and Killua only shrugged his shoulders. It was too late now so they were just going to have to deal with it. Both boys looked at each other in the eye before they scattered, Naruto circling from the right whilst Killua circled from the left. If the Nen user noticed one of them as they came around it was that person's job to keep his attention so the other could sneak behind and take him out. If he didn't notice one of them would engage him first whilst the other hid so they could take him out by surprise.

Both plans relied on the element of surprise but both boys recognized that against an opponent that had a Nen ability developed whilst they both did not, it was the best chance of success.

Or at the least that was what they wanted the Nen user to think. The real plan was a bit more complex than that. Naruto was going to purposefully use Zetsu badly in order to give his position away and hopefully lure the Nen user out. If it worked then they both knew that their chances of success had increased immediately. The whole reason this plan was even given consideration was because of what Machi had said. If they were dealing with someone who would exercise their Nen ability almost casually whilst on a job it either meant he was a pro _or_ that he wasn't very good at all. Considering the fact that Machi had been able to actually witness their Nen ability and not get caught as well as the fact that Killua and Naruto who weren't pros by any stretch of the imagination were able to sense this person watching them it all pointed at the latter.

Hinging on this fact they devised this strategy. If the man was a pro he wouldn't take the bait but if he did then it meant that victory was well within their grasp; all they needed to do was play their cards right.

Naruto would distract and also play mind games whilst Killua would wait.

Killua reached the outskirts of the building first but Naruto was not too far behind. He had used Zetsu to conceal himself and so had Naruto however he did a poor Zetsu in order to be traceable. The Nen user honed in on Naruto and the blonde boy knew this as soon as he felt bloodlust being thrown at him. He skidded to a stop as a man with purple dreadlocks darted out of a window in the building ahead of him and jumped up to the same rooftop as Naruto. The blonde knew that the man had attempted to ambush him and had he taken another step he would've probably been attacked.

However as he stared at his opponent a feeling of excitement starting welling up in him. He had bit the bait and most importantly Naruto had been able to track, not too well, but at least track his movements.

They could do this.

The man stared back with a grin, resting on his haunches. He had purple dreadlocks and headphones around his ears.

"Where's your other friend hmm? Maybe waiting to ambush me?"

Naruto could not believe their luck. The man had actually bit their weak, and truthfully speaking, pathetic bait. Right about now Killua was hiding nearby and watching, completely concealing his presence. Now it was time to play some mind games.

"No, why would he bother doing that? He's gonna kill the big shot in there and then we're leaving, duh!" Naruto replied with the most nonchalant expression and tone of voice he could muster. He even put in a little bit of sarcasm just for a good touch.

The man stared at him as a sudden silence took the rooftop by storm. They both stared at each other and Naruto could practically hear what the man was thinking but he didn't expect for the gods of luck to shine down on them again.

'_Is he bluffing? If he is that means that his friend is actually waiting to ambush me. Wait! Where the hell is that girl that was with them earlier!?'_

A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. It may very well be possible that the two of them were bait whilst the girl was the one who was actually going after his charge! If that was the case he didn't have a second to waste.

Caught in between a rock and a hard place, with a dull but condescending look being directed at him from this cheeky brat, the Nen user scowled and dashed off towards the hideout. Half a second after he dashed back he had to leap to the left as Naruto sprung at him and blood flew through the air.

'_He's fast!' _the Nen user thought in shock as one hand came to his shoulder to staunch the bleeding. He had underestimated this kid; no seven year old had that kind of reaction speed!

"Hmmm where do ya think you're going? My job is to keep you here until the target's dead. Then I think I'll head over to that nice, large and _crowded _plaza over there," here he pointed at the place he was talking about and a cheeky grin crawled on his face as a malicious aura began to be emitted from him, "after all it wouldn't look too good if a grown man was chasing down a scared, crying and _helpless_ seen year old am I right?"

'_This fucking kid! They planned it all out; fuck!' _

Right about now there was a good chance that the girl was well on her way, if not already at his charge's location, and she was about to take him out. He didn't have time to waste on two brats. Because of this he didn't bother to use his ability; it was very powerful but also very heavy and right now every second counted.

This turned out to be a fatal mistake. Along with his incorrect assumption that Machi was working along with them, which was not entirely his fault and was simply a circumstance that was completely out of his and their control, it led him to making the worst possible mistake he could have. He had dashed back in a rush and thus had been attacked.

The worst however was that he had been guided by Naruto's attack.

The blonde had chosen his right side of the body to assault on purpose; in order to make him dodge to the left. Because Killua was hiding that way. Then he had been taunted by Naruto, whose specialty was pissing people.

To add insult on top of injury the blonde then reached with his left hand inside the pocket of his hoodie which immediately put his opponent on guard. The Nen user knew that he could not attack carelessly because the kid's friend was still watching but at the same time he couldn't waste too much time. So he watched, his attention focused on Naruto but still on the lookout for his friend as the blonde reached into his pocket and took out…

A chocolate milk carton?

Slowly, but surely, his patience with this entire matter had been wearing thin. And this was his last straw. He was being mocked and made a fool out of by some snot nosed, cocky son of a bitch of a brat!

Throwing caution to the wind then man lunged at Naruto, a vicious snarl raked across his lips, intent on tearing off that superior look on his face. He threw a punch that the blonde ducked under and countered by kicking him in his right side.

'_Almost there… I just need to push him a couple more meters and then Killua can jump him!' _

So angry that he was seeing red the man with dreadlocks snarled and his aura flared out into life in front of him. It climbed, reaching heights that he had never been to, so great was his anger. And that anger influenced his Nen as well as his rationale.

Because of his great rage and because he was putting off more aura then he had previously when he conjured his weapon this meant that it took longer than usual for his aura to condense, focus and form his conjured object. It could also be attributed to the fact that his rage was clouding his ability to think clearly and to exercise his imagination that it took longer than usual. The length of time it took for it to fully manifest was a full second.

Naruto reacted in 0.5. He darted at his opponent, focusing his aura onto his right hand as he thrust it forward like he was trying to run the man through with a sword. It was only due to the Nen user's reflexes that he was able to bring up the handle part of his conjured object, which was not even fully formed, to block the attack. Nevertheless it did the job but it also pushed him back just enough.

He skidded backwards and his aura finished materialising his conjured weapon. With a shout of, "**Morning Star: Bloody Dawn!**" his conjured weapon, a giant morning star mace with one end being round and full of spikes appeared in his hand but it was too late.

The second the man had finished conjuring his weapon he went to swing it down when he felt death upon him. It was only for a second but it seemed to drag for an eternity, the feeling of being caught off guard by someone, of being attacked when he was at his weakest, the dread that permeated his entire existence.

A Nen user's greatest weakness perhaps, the one that all of them shared, was that when they were activating their ability no matter what kind it was, from Conjurer to Emitter, they would have to concentrate on it, even if it was for less than a second. Having beforehand been told by Machi that they should attack when the Nen user was using his ability Killua figured that it was when the person's guard would be at their lowest.

He was right.

The man with dreadlocks froze as he felt a burning sensation in his chest. He slowly looked down to see a hand sticking out of it, and caught in his murderer's fingernails, which seemed to be elongated and incredibly sharp somehow, was his still beating heart.

The shock of seeing his heart thrust out of his chest as well as the torrent of pain shattered his Nen ability as he keeled over, his last seconds of life being of the two boys who had thoroughly bested him.

His last thought was that he would never get to complete the legendary game, Greed Island, and cash in on the massive reward from it. He had only taken this job to get practise after all…

Killua and Naruto stared at the dead form of their enemy, his eyes blank and devoid of life as blood pooled around his corpse. The silver haired child had waited until the exact right moment, when he was about to use his ability to rush at him as quietly and quickly as possible, concealing his presence until the last possible second before a burst and a quick focus of Gyo to his right hand aided him in stabbing their enemy in the chest.

Both boys caught their breath for a few moments, until it wasn't coming out in short hurried bursts as the adrenaline stopped rushing around their bloodstream. They had done it. The biggest obstacle to their mission was gone.

Now as they stared at the dead form of the man they both had been responsible for killing they felt a sense of accomplishment as well as a strange sense of emptiness. They had succeeded and hadn't gotten even injured in the process. Everything had gone exactly according to plan so why was it that they felt this dissatisfied feeling?

Killua was the first one to speak, "Let's go Naruto. Let's finish this." He muttered in the deafening silence that had enveloped the rooftop. The silver haired genius glanced at his friend who was staring at their dead opponent. It was then that Killua realised that Naruto had never actually killed anyone – sure his _contracts_ had killed people but it was completely different to commit murder with your own two hands.

Killua knew that feeling well.

Naruto stared the man's dead form for a couple of moments longer before he nodded. He turned away from the corpse and clenched his fists. Right now he needed to focus on the mission and not the feeling of being uselessness that was ruling him at the moment. It had taken the both of them to take out an opponent like that? He sympathised with Killua's earlier feelings now. Those six months of training they had been through almost felt meaningless now.

Yes, right now his mind decided that they were pathetic. Having to resort to measures like that to beat an opponent of this calibre and being so helpless that they were caught by someone like Machi… they were pathetic. But Naruto vowed that he would not stay this way. He would take power within his grasp so that he would never feel this helpless again.

"Right, let's go Killua." They both jumped away from the corpse with the intention of finishing their mission.

Sneaking into the construction site, they avoided all of the guards and got to their target's location. The man was sitting on a block of concrete with a bored look on his face. In the same room as him were two other guards. Killua dropped down behind them and took both of them out silently. As both men dropped down to the floor lifelessly their employer got up from his seat and went to shout for help when a blow to the neck severed his spine and claimed his life. Naruto was the one to deliver it.

On the way he had insisted because it was his mission and Naruto wanted to finish this with his own two hands. Killua agreed because Naruto was he watched as his best friend took his first life.

Naruto stared at his hand both in wonder and terror. It had been so easy. He hadn't even put in that much effort to the strike and yet the man had dropped down, dead, almost immediately. It was then that he was reminded of something that Zeno had told him when he was instructing him in Nen.

'_Nen is a rare power. Every person has the potential to use it but only a small percentage of the entire population can use it, let alone know of its existence. That is because someone trained in Nen can easily kill someone who's not. For people like us though it's quite convenient...' After lecturing his young charge the old man chuckled at his last sentence as Naruto only watched on with a sweat drop._

This was the power of Nen, the power that he had over people who were not initiated like he was. And that power was capable of doing incredible things Naruto was reminded of as he thought back to his ability.

He clenched his hand into a fist as a fire welled up inside his eyes. It was time for him to move away from just the basics. There had to be a way he could use Nen to make himself much stronger. He looked at his friend and saw that the same resolve was in his eyes.

* * *

Elsewhere Machi had finally reached her destination.

Inside were the rest of the spiders. Chrollo had told them to gather.

They had finally found where the Kurta clan was hiding.

* * *

Aaaaaaaaaaand cut! Well there it is ladies and gents. To be completely honest I am not pleased that this took almost an entire week to friggin' do but hey that's college for ya! A massive pain in the ass boys and girls… however I am officially on a break. I got a week off so I'll use a good portion of that to write the next chapter so hopefully it won't take as long as this one.

Well yep that's all there is to it. Try to drop a review for me would ya? Like on the last chapter I'm gonna aim for ten more but if I get more it will just be fan-frigging-tastic!


End file.
